


New Megaman Battle Network: The Sun and the Moon

by TheSoundDefense



Series: New Megaman Battle Network [2]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoundDefense/pseuds/TheSoundDefense
Summary: Lan and his friends enter the international Red Sun/Blue Moon Netbattle tournament, each of them hoping to be declared the world's greatest Netbattler. However, the tournament is threatened by a pair of powerful Net monsters, as well as the mysterious organization known as Nebula.A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of the Megaman Battle Network series. Content warnings will be applied at the top of each chapter, as appropriate.(If you read this on another site, I'm rewriting the whole thing, chapter by chapter. Take a look!)
Series: New Megaman Battle Network [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525745
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Registration

"Lan, I'm telling you we're going the wrong way!"

Lan stared down into his PET as he skated down the street as fast as he could. "We don't have time to argue about this! The deadline is coming up soon!"

"'When the lights go out, the show begins!'" Megaman recited, recalling the clue his operator had been given. "It's the movie theater, it's got to be! That's where the shows are played!"

"But that's too obvious!" Lan responded. "Everyone's going to go there! If they're trying to weed people out, they're going to put it somewhere else!"

He groaned and stopped on the sidewalk, checking the time on his PET. "Alright, this ends in thirty minutes. We've got just enough time to check both."

Megaman nodded. "The movie theater's closest. Let's check that first."

Lan nodded in response, taking off at high speed down the sidewalk, not noticing the silver-and-black-haired boy watching him from another street.

* * *

Two months had passed since Alpha's attack on Den City. The world had not seen hide nor hair of Dr. Albert Wily since that time, despite an intense manhunt conducted by the government of Electopia. Another search, performed by SciLab on the Net, found no trace of the Viral Beast Gospel, or the independent Navi Bass; both were presumed destroyed, completely absorbed by Alpha, and their data lost. Nobody had thought to look for Kid Grave.

Aside from Wily, several World Three operators were eventually uncovered. Kenichi Match was found guilty of conspiracy to commit acts of terror, and sentenced to ten years in prison. Maddy Iroaya received a similar sentence, but reduced it severely by divulging all she knew about World Three and her uncle, Dr. Wily. Count Zapp, Elecman's operator, had fled to his native country of Ameroupe and claimed amnesty, while Takeo Inukai, operator of Beastman, was quickly found and imprisoned. Various other low-level members of World Three and Gospel were found. Some were imprisoned, while others claimed to have been brainwashed, complicating matters. The assets of both groups were seized and given to the Electopian government, who distributed it to homes and businesses harmed by the terrorist actions.

Life had mostly returned to normal for Lan Hikari, though his new custom Navi certainly made things more exciting. School had let out for the summer one month after Alpha was defeated, and Lan and Megaman garnered a reputation as a highly skilled operator/Navi team. His father, Yuichiro, found himself at home with his family much more often, his workload having dropped after the dissolving of World Three. When Lan wasn't with his father, he often found himself out with his friends in downtown Den City or elsewhere.

It was on one such excursion that Lan, Mayl, Dex and Yai passed a large, conspicuous, colorful poster on the window of the arcade. Dex ran to it immediately, and quickly motioned for the others to take a look. Everyone crowded around to read:

_The International Netbattle Coalition, in cooperation with the governments of the world, are proud to host the international_

**_Red Sun/Blue Moon Netbattle Tournament_ **

_Compete to be the world's greatest Netbattler!_

_Grand Prize: 10,000,000 Zennys_

_1st Prize: 5,000,000 Zennys_

_2nd Prize: 2,000,000 Zennys_

_3rd Prize: 1,000,000 Zennys_

_Other local prizes also available_

_Den City tournament organizer: Higsby's Chip Shop_

_Registration: 9:00 - 11:00 am, Saturday, July 13_

"Whoa! The greatest Netbattler in the world!" Lan's eyes lit up at the thought.

"Ten million Zennys!" Dex goggled, reading the prizes over again. "Think of all I could buy with money like that!" Yai rolled her eyes, unimpressed.

"July 13... that's a week from today," Mayl observed. "That's pretty quick." She pulled out her PET, looking into the screen at her Navi. "What do you think, Roll? Sounds like it could be pretty fun!"

"It sure does!" Roll responded, cheerful and excited. "Let's go for it, Mayl!"

"You'll have to get past me if you want to win!" Dex gestured to himself. "Me and Gutsman have been training for months! Not even an Official Navi can beat us now!"

"Really? You've fought Official Navis?" Yai asked, as the four started walking down the sidewalk.

"Well, no, but I bet we could beat one!" he responded, triggering a brief argument between the two. Mayl giggled as the two bickered back and forth, which was their natural state, while Lan pulled out his PET.

"What do you think, Mega?" he asked, grinning. "You want to try battling against some of the best Netbattlers in the world?" He was only asking as a formality, as he knew what his Navi's response would be.

"Sounds great to me!" Megaman answered. "I'd love to see how we measure up. Plus, it's been months since we had a really good battle."

Mayl grinned, looking on. "Sounds like you actually liked fighting World Three, Megaman!" Megaman shrugged, as Lan laughed.

"Me and Megaman were made for Netbattling!" Lan punched at the air, mock fighting, and Mayl grinned again, as the four continued down the street, all of them looking forward to the event one week later.

* * *

The next Saturday, Lan was roused from his sleep by his alarm clock, grumbling as he reached out and slapped it to stop the noise. He squinted at it, his tired brain taking a minute to register that it was 9:00 a.m. He yawned as he forced his covers off, sliding to the edge of the bed, still exhausted as he grabbed his PET, looking down at the screen, and the Navi inside.

"Morning, Lan," Megaman commented, cocking his head at the appearance of his operator. "You look... still asleep."

"I'm fine," Lan replied. "All I need to do is head down to the shop and register. Don't need to be wide awake for that."

"I guess not." His Navi sighed. "That's what you get for staying up until four in the morning."

"I was too excited to sleep..." Lan turned around and walked toward his dresser, intending to get some clothes to change into before he hopped into the shower. Instead, he found himself walking back toward his bed, on autopilot, lying on it heavily.

"Lan! What are you doing?"

"Just resting my eyes... couple seconds..." Lan closed his eyes, his PET slipping from his hand and landing screen-side down, and speaker-side down, on his mattress. He fully intended to get up again after a minute, but within seconds, he was fast asleep again. The shouts of his Navi, muted by the mattress, did nothing to rouse him from his sleep.

Ninety minutes later, Lan was still sleeping heavily on his bed, with only thirty minutes left before registration closed. Megaman had eventually relented and let him sleep a bit longer, as he clearly needed it, but at this point he was starting to panic. He had practically shouted himself hoarse trying to reawaken his operator, to no avail.

He groaned, lightly cursing in his mind, as he tried to figure out some other way to get Lan out of bed. There was no other way for the PET to make any sort of noise, so he would have to find something else. He scanned the local network for any connected devices, hoping that one could do the trick; after a few seconds of looking, he grinned, locating one that couldn't possibly fail. He hopped out of the PET through the local wireless network.

Seconds later, the high-pitched, piercing sound of the smoke detector had Lan awake in an instant, as he fell off his bed and onto the floor, tangled up in his sheets. The alarm turned itself back off as he managed to extricate himself, standing and looking around for a moment before he realized what happened. His eyes snapped to his alarm clock, then went wide when he saw what time it was.

"Oh crap! Crap, crap, crap!" He quickly spotted his PET on his bed, grabbing it and looking at the screen. "Megaman! I overslept!"

"You think?!" his Navi responded, a mix of relieved and frustrated. "Do you have any idea how much I tried to wake you up?!"

Lan quickly put his PET back down on his dresser, rifling through and grabbing some clothes. He didn't have time to shower or eat breakfast; he needed to get out the door as quickly as possible. His Navi groaned, holding his face in his hands, as Lan got himself changed at the speed of sound.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Lan flew out the door, his PET in the holster at his hip, and skated downtown toward Higsby's. Upon arriving, Lan was not surprised to find the store completely rammed with customers; even at the tail end of registration, there were dozens and dozens of people there. He managed to squeeze his way in, looking around for the owner, making his way slowly toward the front. He tried to spot the tall owner of the store, but didn't see him behind the counter as he normally was.

"Lan!" Lan turned quickly at the sound of his name being called; he saw Yai beckoning him over, along with Mayl and Dex. He ran over to them quickly.

"Guys! Where's Higsby? Isn't he doing the registration thingy?"

Mayl nodded, pointing Lan in the right direction. "You better hurry!"

"What? Don't I still have twenty minutes?"

She shook her head. "There's this thing... a scavenger hunt, like... look, just go! Higsby will tell you!" Lan nodded, slowly making his way closer to the back of the shop. It wasn't long before he heard a familiar voice.

"Grr... all these people getting their hands all over my chips, huh..."

Lan stood on his toes, looking over the crowd, shortly finding the bespectacled, wild-haired Higsby, an avid chip collector and the owner of the store. Waving at him, he finally got the attention of the man, who motioned him over, recognizing the young boy.

"Lan! Thought you wouldn't make it!"

"Am I still in time to register?" Lan squeezed through, finally getting to the counter. Higsby reached under the counter and pulled out a slip of paper.

"Hold on. It's not that easy, huh." He handed Lan the slip of paper. "You've gotta pass the preliminary qualifier, first. The tournament guys put special stands around town, and you gotta jack in and defeat all the viruses if you wanna register."

Lan looked down at the paper he'd just been given, which had a rather cryptic message: _Where science gives life._ "How am I supposed to find them?"

"You gotta interpret the clues, huh." Higsby adjusted his glasses. "Each stand will lead you to the next one. Once you find the last one, you'll get a special chip, and you use that to register. But you gotta get back here before noon!"

Lan nodded. "Got it!" He turned quickly and carefully made his way out of the shop, as his friends watched, relieved that he had made it in time.

"He better finish the qualifier in time!" Dex declared. "I can't call myself champ unless Gutsman beats up Megaman!"

Yai smirked. "Dream on, Dex. Every time you two-" She stopped herself as she saw a familiar face entering the store; the others stopped and watched as well, curious.

"Huh? What's he doing here? Is he entering this tournament, too?" Mayl watched as the boy walked up toward the counter, unconcerned with the other customers in his way. Higsby's eyebrows raised as he approached.

"Chaud! What are you doing back? You're all registered already."

He walked up to the counter and muttered something the other three couldn't hear. Higsby listened intently and nodded, frowning.

"Is that so, huh... well, if anyone else comes in to register, I'll let them know." Chaud nodded and turned, when Higsby suddenly jumped.

"Wait! Lan Hikari doesn't know! He just came in and ran off to find the clues!"

Chaud stopped walking and rubbed his forehead. "Ugh... now I'm going to have to chase him down, aren't I?" He walked up to the counter and received something from Higsby, then continued out of the store, turning the corner and heading off. Yai, Mayl and Dex watched him go.

"Did anyone hear what he said?" Dex wondered aloud. The other two shook their heads.

* * *

"Almost... there..."

An hour later, Lan was breathing hard, as he headed toward the outskirts of Den City, trying to get to the observatory as fast as he could. It was in sight now, only a block or so away.

"We're running short on time," Megaman commented. "We've got about fifteen minutes to delete the viruses and get back to Higsby's... I hope this is the last clue." Lan finally got up to the front door of the observatory and moved to wrench it open, but was surprised to find it locked.

"What? It's locked?" He tried peering inside, seeing nobody there. "Is the stand on the outside, then?" He started skating all around the outside of the building, trying to find the yellow, Mettool-topped stand that would contain the viruses.

"Lan, what's wrong? Can you find it?"

"I'm not seeing it..." Lan moved as fast as he could around the building, groaning when he saw the front door again. Frustrated and exhausted, he yanked on the door handle again, banging on it, hoping someone would show up and explain to him what was going on. Nobody did.

"Damn it! We were so close..." Lan rested his head against the door angrily, annoyed with himself for sleeping in, and the challenge for being unclear, and the world for being stupid. He was about to skate around the building again, when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He whirled around quickly in surprise, to see Eugene Chaud holding up a data chip.

"Chaud! What are you..." His eyes quickly honed in on the chip, eyes widening a bit. "Wait, is this your..."

"Don't be stupid, of course it's not mine." Lan held out his hand, and Chaud dropped the chip into it. "Someone's playing dirty. The final virus machine went missing from here about an hour ago."

Lan looked down at the chip in his hand. "So this..."

"That's your ticket to registration," Chaud replied. "Now get moving. You've got 15 minutes." Lan nodded and dashed off, as the young Official followed behind at a more leisurely pace.

* * *

Back at Higsby's, Lan's friends were all staring at the clock, counting down the last few minutes and, eventually, the last few seconds.

"Oh God, he's not going to make it..." Mayl clasped her hands over her chest. "Did something go wrong? Is this what Chaud told Higsby about?"

"I don't know, but it looks like it screwed him up pretty bad," Dex commented, as they all watched the second hand count down toward noon. 20... 19... 18...

"Wait! Don't close yet!"

Lan flew through the doors of the shop, forcing his way through the crowd and to the front counter. "Higsby... Chaud... got it..."

"Just in time, huh! You sure know how to make an entrance." Higsby took the chip and inserted it into a nearby machine, quickly entering Lan's personal information. A few seconds later, the machine let out a satisfactory beep.

"Got it! You're in, Lan, just under the wire." Lan sighed in relief, slumping over the counter as he caught his breath, as he felt a heavy hand clap him on the shoulder.

"Nice work, Lan!" Dex declared, grinning. "Good to see you'll be in the tournament, too!"

Lan turned and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, as Mayl let out an annoyed sigh. "Maybe this will teach you to wake up on time."

"Yeah, yeah..." Lan looked up for a minute, and saw Chaud walking past the entrance to the store. His smile faded, as he thought back to the last tournament the two of them participated in, at the arcade; it was impossible for him to forget how Chaud had beaten down first his Navi, and then his pride.

"Hold on..." Lan walked forward and out of the store, turning and spotting the retreating back of the boy he was looking for. "Hey! Chaud!"

Chaud paused without turning around, as Lan came up from behind him. "You... why did you help me? I thought..."

"Thought I hated you?"

He blinked, not expecting a response like that. "Er... yeah... I mean, the last tournament, and Gospel..."

Chaud sighed, turning around and looking his companion in the eye. "I don't like owing debts to anyone."

"What? What do you mean?" Lan asked, as Chaud continued.

"Lan, you're not good at making tough decisions. Decisive action isn't your forte, and you endangered a lot of people because of it. Honestly, you're pretty infuriating to deal with." He slid his hands into his pockets. "But... I owe you my life. You saved me. You saved my father. You saved everyone I know and care about. So consider this my thanks."

Lan was lost for words for a moment, taken aback by Chaud's words, as well as his intense gaze. It was hard to know if he was being thankful, annoyed, or both. "S... sure... no problem..." He found himself looking down, flustered. "Thanks for the chip..."

"Don't thank me yet. I still have no intention of going easy on you in this tournament." Chaud turned around again, heading off, and Lan watched him go for a moment, feeling the heat of what he assumed was embarrassment radiating off his face. After a few seconds, he spoke up again.

"Wait, why are the Officials entering this tournament?"

"The Officials aren't doing anything," Chaud replied. "It's just me."

"Oh." Lan cocked his head. "So... why are you entering the tournament?"

Chaud smirked, glancing back. "Because I'm the best Netbattler in the world."

Lan grinned. "We'll see about that." He watched Chaud leave for a few seconds more, before quickly shaking his head, trying to force himself out of being flustered. He turned around and headed back into Higsby's, where his friends were waiting for him.


	2. A Minor Leak

"And that's the end of the battle! The winner is Lan Hikari!"

"Yes!" Lan pumped his fist into the air as he jacked Megaman out of the battle computer; his opponent did the same, grumbling, and walked out of the arena, as the spectators cheered from the half-full stands of the arena.

"This concludes the Round 2 matches! The third round pairings will be posted immediately in the competitor's area!" The announcer cleared his throat. "The tournament will resume in 30 minutes. Feel free to step outside and get some fresh air!"

As some of the observers got up and headed out, Lan quickly leapt down the stairs toward the competitor's lounge, eager to see who his next match would be with. As he walked through the doors separating the arena from the lounge, he noticed the crowd of participants ahead of them, all shoving at each other and trying to see who their next battle would be with. He ran forward, squeezing his way in and taking a look at the standings, trying to see what had happened.

Whittled down from hundreds of initial entrants in Den City, the tournament proper pitted the 32 best Netbattlers against each other in a single elimination tournament. They had been separated into two blocks, and the winner from each block would move on to the national level. Lan had cleared the first two rounds and had two more to go; he ran his finger down the page, trying to find who his next opponent would be.

"The Navi's name is Aquaman," he recited to his Navi. "Nobody I've ever heard of before..."

"How did the others do?" Megaman asked. Lan looked across the page, searching for familiar names.

"Looks like Dex is up against Chaud in the next round... that'll be interesting... but Yai lost her match last round."

"Ah, that's a shame. Then again, expensive Battlechips can only get you so far..." Megaman shrugged.

"Mayl made it!" Lan announced cheerfully, his face lighting up. "Her match is the one right before mine, it looks like. If we both win, we're up against each other for the finals."

"So we're last again, huh?" Megaman stretched his rm. "Well, at least that gives us some time to relax before our next match. It's around lunchtime, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Lan nodded, exiting the lounge and navigating the hallways until he left DenDome, Den City's official Netbattle arena, and stepped into the sunlight. After taking a second to shield his eyes, he walked out into the front plaza, where plenty of spectators were milling about. "I wonder what's to eat around here..."

"Lan!" Lan looked around at the sound of his name being called; lower on the plaza, Mayl and Dex were waving at him. He grinned and ran over.

"Hey, guys! We all made it! Semifinals!"

"Except Yai," Mayl added, as Lan and Dex shared a high-five. "She fought against that Chaud boy... it was a pretty bad loss."

"Think we should go cheer her up?" Lan inquired. She shook her head in response.

"No, she'll be fine. This didn't matter that much to her." She thought back to Yai's reaction, glaring at her opponent before storming off the stage. "She did seem pretty bitter, though. I don't think she likes Chaud very much. I'm not sure why."

Dex smirked and thumped his fist against his chest. "Well, I'll get that Chaud back for her! He's not going to last thirty seconds against me! Then I'll win the finals and go on to the national level!"

Lan grinned, as the three started walking back toward downtown. "Good luck with that. Protoman won't be that easy, trust me."

"Good luck to you too, Lan." Mayl smiled. "If Megaman and Roll both win, they'll fight each other in the final round, and she really wants to fight Megaman. I'm pretty eager myself!"

"Well, we'll both have to make sure we win our matches, then!" Lan's stomach suddenly rumbled, and he looked down. "Though... maybe we should get something to eat first..."

"Yeah!" Dex stepped to the front of the pack. "I'm up for some hamburgers! Let's go!"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, both boys were leaning back in their chairs at a downtown diner, satiated and satisfied.

"Boy, that hit the spot!" Dex declared, patting his stomach. "Seven hamburgers from the best place in town!"

"Geez..." Lan held his own stomach, feeling like there was food stuffed into every square inch of him. "I could never eat as much as you do, Dex."

"Not like you didn't try," Mayl observed, sitting across from them. "You two are going to make yourselves sick with your eating contests, I swear." She wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up. "We should get back soon..."

Lan looked at his PET. "Yeah, definitely. Dex's match is in ten minutes."

"Bring it on!" Dex stood up, flexing his arms. "I'm fully charged and ready to go! Let's move!" He headed out the door with a pep in his step, as Mayl and Lan followed him from behind.

Six minutes later, they had reached the DenDome, and Dex was raring to go. Lan, however, was a little worse for wear.

"Um, Lan..." Megaman inquired, as his operator slowed down a bit, holding his stomach. "Are you alright?"

"Ugh..." Lan held his upset stomach, starting to regret hamburger #4. "I'll be fine..." He looked around briefly and spotted a public restroom nearby.

"You guys go on ahead," he indicated to the other two. "I'll be right back." He hustled over to the bathrooom at top speed, as Mayl sighed.

"I knew he'd make himself sick..."

"Ah, he'll be fine," Dex replied. "Come on, my match is starting any minute!"

The two continued on into the DenDome arena, as Lan made his way into the bathroom. As they went their separate ways, none of them noticed the young, brown-haired man who had been following them ever since they left the diner. He moved quickly to the bathroom that Lan had just entered, disappearing inside. Less than two minutes later, he walked back out, shutting the door behind him and grinning as he placed an "Under Maintenance" sign on it. He quickly turned and walked back into DenDome, trying not to draw attention to himself.

* * *

"Mayl did warn you you'd get sick, you know."

"Yeah, yeah..." Lan answered, washing his hands and face, having had a very unpleasant five minutes. "Ugh... feeling better, at least..."

"Come on, we should get out of here," Megaman replied. "We should be able to catch the end of Dex's match against Chaud."

Lan nodded, heading for the door. "Assuming it's not over already, that is. Dex is definitely in over his head." He grabbed the door handle and tried to push it open, but was surprised to find it locked.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lan shoved harder, to no avail. "Who locked the door? I'm stuck!"

"What? Who locks a public bathroom from the outside?" Megaman wondered, as Lan started pounding on the door.

"Hey! Someone, anyone! Let us out!" He kept pounding and shouting until he noticed something near his feet; looking down, he noticed the floor of the bathroom was covered by a thin layer of water, moving about slightly. Confused and worried, he ran back into the bathroom and turned a corner to enter the shower area, only to find all of the showers turned on full blast.

"What the hell?! What's going on here?!" Lan ran over to one of the water knobs and tried to turn it, water raining down on him and soaking his hair, but it was completely locked in place. Changing tack, he kneeled down toward the drains in the floor, wondering why they weren't draining, to find them all sealed with some form of rubber cement; he attempted to claw through them, but had no luck.

"Lan? What's going on? I can't see anything!"

"Someone's filling the bathroom up with water! They've turned on the showers and plugged all the drains!"

"What?!" Megaman exclaimed. "You're going to drown in there!"

Lan stood up, frustrated and soaked, and ran back toward the door, as the water started creeping up his legs. "We have to get this thing open!" He slammed his shoulder against the door a couple times. "I'm not going to die in a stupid public bathroom!"

"Lan! Try jacking me into the lock!" Megaman chimed in. "I'll get us out of here!"

Lan nodded, pulling out the jack-in cable on his PET and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld, praying that the device was waterproof. "Hurry, please!"

* * *

"An amazing victory! Eugene Chaud defeats Dex Oyama and movs on to the finals!"

The DenDome crowd cheered as Chaud and Dex jacked out. Dejected, Dex headed out of the stadium with his head down, without shaking his opponent's hand; Chaud, who wouldn't have shook anyhow, put his hands back into his pockets and walked out as well.

"Poor Dex," Mayl observed, as she and Yai watched from the stands. "He doesn't seem very happy. He was certain he'd make it farther than that."

"Well, what did he expect, battling an Official?" replied a rather unsympathetic Yai. "They're some of the best battlers in Electopia. He's lucky he lasted as long as he did."

"Maybe so," Mayl hopped up out of her seat. "It's too bad Lan didn't get to see the match. What is he doing anyway?"

"Still sick, probably." Yai shifted in her seat, a bit restless. "He'll be back for his match, don't worry. He'd never miss this."

Mayl grinned. "I know that. I just don't want him to miss mine. I want him to see what he'll be up against!"

Yai laughed. "You better go get ready, you're on after this next match. Good luck!" Mayl waved and headed off to the contender's lounge.

* * *

"Any luck, Megaman?" Lan asked, growing concerned as the water went up past his knees. His Navi, in the Cyberworld, had plenty of wading of his own to do, through knee-deep water.

"Nothing but water here, too... I think I'm close to the lock program, though..." His eyebrows raised as he spotted a program bobbing about in the water, and he trudged his way toward it.

"That's close enough!" a high-pitched voice called out. Megaman quickly looked around for the source of the voice, when the ground started rumbling. Seconds later, a massive tidal wave formed in front of him, sweeping him up and knocking him over, face down in the water. He quickly sat up, spitting out a mouthful of water.

"Who is that?" Show yourself!" He demanded, standing up and forming a buster on his arm. Right on cue, a short, small Navi fell out of the sky, landing amidst the water in front of Megaman. He was colored blue, and wore a giant, clear sphere of water around his overlarge head.

"This is as far as you go, Megaman! Your operator won't live to see the third round!"

Megaman blinked, staring at the surprisingly small being. "Who... who are you, exactly?"

"What are you looking at me like that for?" the Navi demanded, getting visibly irritated. "You think just because I'm small you can treat me like a kid?!"

Megaman took a step forward, confused, briefly forgetting to be on alert. "Erm... no... I just..."

"Shut up!" The Navi stretched his palm out toward Megaman, and a massive jet of water sprang from it; he yelped and jumped out of the way. "I'm Aquaman, and I'm going to defeat you here!"

"Aquaman?!" Megaman glared, forming a sword on his free arm. "You're supposed to be my opponent! Why are you doing this here? Why are you attacking Lan?!"

"It's not a Navi's place to ask questions!" Aquaman started throwing small bombs toward Megaman, who had to work to dodge due to the deep water. The bombs exploded as they hit the surface of the water, spraying more of it around. "My job is to make sure you don't unlock this door, and that's what I'll do!"

"Gah!" Megaman cried out, irritated, as he got splashed. "Is there anything this guy can do that doesn't end in more water?"

"We've had enough of water!" Lan chimed in, the water in the bathroom past his waist; he looked through his soggy chip folder, trying to find something that would work in a situation like this. "We have to find something to stop this guy, and end it quick!"

"Forget it!" Aquaman spoke, forming another tidal wave that swept up Megaman, sending him floating a ways away before it died down. "You'll never defeat me before your operator drowns! There's no way!"

Megaman spat out more water, standing up and looking around, needing some sort of plan. He grinned a bit upon seeing something out of the corner of his eye. "Don't forget, Aquaman, I don't have to defeat you... I just have to unlock this door!" He took off for the program, trudging as quickly as he could through the deep water, as Aquaman gasped.

"No! I won't let you!" He raised his hands in the air, creating a massive geyser out of the water where Megaman was; everything shot directly upward, over a hundred feet in the air and well out of reach of the door program. Looking upward triumphantly, he grew concerned when he saw no sign of his foe above. An instant later, Megaman appeared right behind Aquaman, the result of an Area Steal chip.

"Right here!" he declared. Aquaman turned around quickly, and was just barely able to dodge a swipe from his enemy's sword. Megaman grinned and kept slashing away, giving his opponent barely enough time to dodge each swipe.

"Stop it! Enough of this!" Aquaman declared a minute later; raising his hands up, another tidal wave formed between him and Megaman. Pushing the wave forward, he had no time to react when a massive burst of air punched a hole right through it, knocking him backwards. Megaman dove through the hole, firing his buster in Aquaman's direction and brandishing his sword again. Dodging another swipe, Aquaman leapt high into the air, forming a massive BigBomb above his head.

"Time for you to be deleted! Take this!" He hurled the massive bomb down toward Megaman, where it exploded in a huge fireball, sending a shockwave of water all around. As the smoke cleared, Aquaman looked around for his opponent, but once again found him nowhere. "What?! Where are you now?"

Lan grinned from within the bathroom stall, watching the action unfold; he was treading water now, as it quickly started approaching the ceiling. As Aquaman looked around, Megaman quickly appeared next to the door program with another Area Steal. He grinned up at his foe as he put his hand on it.

"Too bad, Aquaman! Looks like you failed!" he shouted, as he activated the door program. "Good luck getting to DenDome on time!" Megaman disappeared in a flash of light, having been jacked out, as Aquaman goggled.

* * *

Outside of DenDome, a young girl of twenty was walking through the plaza toward the public restroom, needing to wash her hands after eating. She thought to herself what she was going to do after the tournament was over, as she'd traveled from the outskirts of Den City to get here, and she wanted to spend as much time here as she could before getting back on another bus home. Maybe she'd go and see her mother over in another suburb, she thought.

As she approached the small building, the door to the men's room suddenly burst open, and a massive wall of water erupted from it. She shrieked and leaped out of the way as thousands of gallons of water spilled out into the plaza, along with a young brown-haired boy, as several other people yelped and stepped back.

After all the water had drained into the sidewalk, Lan sat up, rubbing his head and looking into his PET, relieved to see that Megaman had safely returned. He looked around to see a large group of rather surprised people staring at him.

"Er... um... bathroom's... still not fixed." He hopped up and ran into the arena, water dripping off of him freely, as everyone continued to stare.

* * *

"Where on Earth is Lan?" Mayl wondered from the DenDome stands, staring down at the arena. "He's going to forfeit in a minute! What's happened?" Everyone in the stands was muttering, wondering where the young competitor had gone to. His opponent, the same brown-haired man who locked the bathroom, was in position on his side of the Netbattle arena, but Lan's station was empty.

"Lan Hikari, this is your last chance to come and battle before Bruno wins by forfeit!" the announcer called out into his microphone. "You will forfeit your match in ten seconds! Nine... eight... seven..."

"Look, there he is!" someone shouted. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance, where a completely soaked Lan was running in. Everyone started mumbling again, louder than before, wondering what on earth this boy could have been doing, as he ran up to the battle station.

"What in the world...?" Mayl leaned forward in her seat, eyes wide as she studied him, baffled. "Why is he all wet?"

"Stop doing that!" Yai shouted down at him, hands cupped around her mouth. "Get here on time for once, would you?!"

"Er... Lan Hikari has arrived..." the announcer managed, as Lan grinned, still dripping water onto the floor. "Are you... alright?"

"How...?" his opponent wondered, looking completely shocked and a little panicked. "What are you doing here?!"

"I was just cooling off a bit," Lan retorted, smirking. "Sorry I'm late, but I'm here and ready to battle!"

The announcer regained his composure, remembering he had a job to do, and began speaking into the microphone again. "Lan has arrived just in the nick of time! The battle will now begin! Both competitors, jack in your Navis now!"

Lan pulled out the cable on his PET, shaking the water out of it before plugging it in and sending Megaman to the Cyberworld. His attention turned to his opponent, who was standing with his PET in his hand, completely unsure of what to do now. Lan grinned knowingly; Aquaman was still trapped in the Cyberworld of the bathroom, and his operator couldn't leave to go get him.

"Bruno, please jack in Aquaman so the battle can begin," the announcer requested. Bruno did nothing, still paralyzed with confusion and indecision.

Lan smirked. "What's wrong? Your Navi's ready to go, isn't he?" Bruno stood for another few seconds, before suddenly turning around and hightailing it out of the arena. The crowd watched in stunned silence, before the announcer interrupted, even more baffled than before.

"Bruno... has left the stadium..." He cleared his throat. "Bruno is no longer present for his match! Lan Hikari wins by forfeit!"

The crowd erupted again, not in cheers, but in confused babbling, as the announcer tried to call for silence.

"Everyone, this concludes the semi-final matches! The final matches will begin in thirty minutes!" The crowd continued talking as they filed out of the stadium, and Lan walked his way out into the competitor's lounge. As he stepped into the room, he saw Mayl and Yai running in from the other door.

"Lan!" Mayl called out, exasperated. "What's going on? Where were you? Why did your opponent just leave? Why are you all _wet?!_ "

Lan laughed, amused despite the seriousness of the situation, feeling good about having defeated Aquaman. "I'll tell you later. I gotta go get myself dried off." He walked past the both of them, out of the lounge, as they watched him go, completely confused.


	3. Den City Championship

Lan thanked Mayl as he handed him yet another towel, which he used to continue drying off his hair, as they sat with Yai and Dex in the competitor's lounge. After the intermission, he and his clothes were nearly dry, though he was feeling fairly cold from the soaked fabric.

"So Aquaman trapped you in the bathroom with the water on," Yai prompted. "How did you get out? Megaman?"

Lan nodded. "He managed to unlock the door after a couple minutes, then the water kinda dumped me outside."

"Turned the entire plaza into a puddle, too," Dex added, looking outside and grinning a bit. "Look at that! The water's still running!"

Lan grinned as well. "Guess they don't need to do street cleaning today, huh?"

"Lan, how are you making jokes right now?" Mayl held herself lightly, unnerved and more than a little scared. "This isn't funny. You could have drowned in there."

"What do you want me to do, Mayl?" he replied, glancing over. "I don't even want to think about it in the first place. I'd rather make jokes than stress myself out." She frowned and looked away, wishing she could be less stressed out about what just happened.

"That guy was totally crazy, whoever he was," Yai commented. "Willing to do something like that just to win... the Officials had better take care of him!"

"They couldn't find him," Lan replied. "They looked all over, but he's long gone, probably."

"I hope he never comes back." Mayl held herself more tightly. "What if he's not the only thing wrong here? What if we're all still in danger?"

"Nah, you're reading too much into it." Lan tossed the towel aside, shaking his hair out. "That guy was pretty crazy, but the rest of the tournament has been just fine. And he'll never get near DenDome again, I'm sure. He's out of the tournament now." He slipped his bandana back on.

"Ugh, I hope so..." She cut herself off, as loud cheering erupted from the nearby arena. All four looked up at a television in the corner, to see the announcer declaring the end of the match.

"Looks like Chaud won..." Lan commented; both Dex and Yai grumbled in response, having been defeated rather handily by the young Official. They watched as he proceed to the VIP portion of the stands, joining an older man in a suit. "Can't say I'm too surprised..."

"That means we're up next, Lan." Mayl stood up, taking a deep breath, trying to put her worries behind her, as she glanced over at him. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I am." Lan stood up after her. "Let's go."

"Good luck, both of you!" Yai offered, as she and Dex stood and walked out of the lounge, heading back into the audience. Lan and Mayl walked up to the door leading to the arena itself, waiting for their cue to enter, as they heard the announcer's voice from the other side.

"Eugene Chaud advances to the national tournament! Let's give him a big hand!"

As he listened to the applause, Lan could hear shaky breathing from besides him. He glanced over to see Mayl trying and failing to calm herself, still shaken from what had happened. He frowned, always hating to see her upset or torn up, and he found himself reaching out and placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." She started a bit at his touch, glancing over. Her eyes widened in surprise as he reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a firm but comforting embrace. "I'm okay. Everything's okay."

She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly in response, as if he might somehow slip away if she didn't hold on to him for dear life. "I know... I know."

They kept holding each other for several long seconds, as he felt her relax, her breathing becoming more calm. Soon they heard the applause dying down, and they let each other go as they heard the announcer speaking again.

"And now, for our final match of the tournament, to decide who will be joining Chaud in the Electopian championship!"

Lan looked back at her and smiled. "Good luck, Mayl."

"You too, Lan." She grinned a bit. "Not that you're going to need it." He grinned back at her, glad that she seemed to be feeling better.

"Give it up for our contestants!" the announcer continued. "Both representing ACDC Town, we have Lan Hikari, with his powerful Megaman, battling against Mayl Sakurai, with her lightning-fast Navi, Roll!"

The crowd continued making noise as Lan and Mayl entered the stadium together, separating at the stairs and heading toward their respective positions.

"Both of you, please jack your Navis into the battle arena!"

Mayl grinned as she pulled out her jack-in cable. "You better not hold back on me, Lan! We're pulling out all the stops!"

He laughed in response, as he sent Megaman into the arena. "Don't you worry about that!"

Seconds later, both Navis appeared in the Cyberworld, close to each other. They quickly walked forward and shook hands.

"I hope you're ready for a beating, Megaman," Roll teased, grinning.

Megaman smirked in response. "I'm ready to give one out, if that's what you mean." The two Navis moved backwards, as the announcer called once more for quiet.

"Both Navis are ready! Let the battle... begin!"

* * *

Roll immediately dashed forward, on the offensive, barely visible with her immense speed. Megaman braced himself, but she quickly got inside his defenses, punching him square in the gut before leaping up and kicking him in the face. He was a bit stunned but was still able to react quickly, grasping her foot tightly and spinning her around before letting her fly toward a nearby rock. Colliding hard, she quickly bounced up and jumped high over Megaman, avoiding his Cannon fire and letting loose with a flurry of arrows.

"Sword!" Megaman's right arm turned into a blade, which he used to deflect all of the arrows headed toward him. He retaliated with a series of Buster shots, which Roll easily dodged in the air.

"Man, she's quick..." He muttered as Roll landed on her feet, some yards away. Both were grinning in anticipation.

_This is gonna be fun_ , they both thought, as they dashed at each other again.

As the battle continued, the audience watched with rapt attention, oohing and aahing at various maneuvers. Yai cheered on Mayl and Roll, while Dex called for Lan and Megaman's victory. In a VIP box, Chaud sat and watched the battle curiously, with his father sitting next to him. Reginald Chaud was the chairman of the IPC Corporation, which manufactured most of Electopia's PETs and Battlechips.

"That blue Navi, Megaman... he's looking to be quite the fighter," Reginald commented. "I thought he was just strong, but he's still fast enough to stave off that little lightning bolt down there. That Lan boy must be a skilled programmer... or just rich."

Chaud shook his head. "No, he's not rich. That's Dr. Hikari's son, down there."

"You don't say?" His father's eyebrows raised. "No wonder, then. His Navi was programmed by a genius. Anyone could go far with that one."

"I'm not sure about that." The boy leaned forward a bit, as he watched the two Navis firing light arms at each other. "There's something different about those two. Their synergy is like nothing I've ever seen. It's not just any operator that could do that."

Reginald chuckled. "Not worried about your chances, are you, son?"

Chaud smirked. "Not in the least. I'm just intrigued, is all." He looked around for a minute, stretching one arm, when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He stood up, trying to get a better look, and saw Bruno, Aquaman's operator, sneaking through the shadows of the arena and entering a door.

"What are you looking at?" Reginald wondered.

"Nothing, really... just going to stretch my legs, I think." Chaud walked out of the VIP box and down the stairs, discretely following Bruno through the door, as Megaman and Roll clashed on the screens in the center of the room.

* * *

Stepping through the door, Chaud found himself in what looked like an employees-only area; the corridor in front of him was much more rough, the walls made of pure, unpainted concrete. He looked further down the hallway to see Bruno entering another room, one that looked to be underneath the stands. He walked closer, moving quietly along the hallway, only to hear Bruno's footsteps as he immediately walked back out. He quickly ducked behind a corner, flattening himself against the wall as Bruno walked out and down another hall, muttering to himself with an irritated tone.

"What is he up to..." Chaud wondered to himself, as he emerged from hiding and quickly ducked into the area from which Bruno had emerged. He was definitely underneath the stands now, as the cheering was much more audible than before. He looked around carefully, wondering what Bruno could have been doing under here, when a certain object managed to catch his attention. Looking upward, near the short ceiling of this room, was a long, black rectangle, about the size of a laptop computer, affixed to the wall.

"What is it, Master Chaud?" Protoman inquired.

"Found something... he must have placed it here." Chaud reached out to inspect it. "Not sure what it is, though..." He found no buttons on the outside, and tried reaching around to the back; upon touching the back of the device, his hand retracted immediately, as if it had been burnt. He grabbed hold of a nearby pole to pull himself up, inspecting it more closely. He could see the characters "C4" written on gray mounds on the back.

"Damn, I was afraid of this... it's a bomb, and a large one." He took a closer look. "I don't want to know what he's doing, planting explosives..."

"Perhaps he plans to hold them ransom."

"We're not going to take that chance," Chaud replied, finding a jack-in port. Pulling a flashlight out of his belt, he inspected the port carefully, eventually deciding it wasn't booby-trapped. "You're going to enter that device and disable it, Protoman."

"Yes, sir."

He pulled out his jack-in cable and plugged it in, sending Protoman into the bomb's Cyberworld, before slotting a Sword Battlechip into his PET.

"You'll have to operate on your own, Protoman. I've got other fish to fry." He pulled the cable back out, putting his PET back into his belt and dashing out of the room, racing after Bruno.

* * *

"Roll Flash!"

Megaman only had a moment to react before a bright light shone from Roll's outstretched hands, forcing him to shield his eyes. Upon looking back, his vision still a bit hazy, he found Roll had completely vanished.

"What?" He looked around, but couldn't find a trace of her anywhere. "Where is she?"

"Did she make herself invisible?" Lan wondered, as his Navi kept looking around.

"No, I don't think so." Megaman answered, assuming a defensive stance; the flash was still affecting his vision, making the Cyberworld around him a bit fuzzier. "I can hear her running, just barely. She's just traveling too fast to be seen. That's amaz- gah!"

He cried out in pain as an arrow pierced his side; looking toward its source, he could see Roll for just an instant before she vanished again, from a combination of her speed and his poor vision. Gritting his teeth, he reached down and pulled the arrow from his side, grunting in pain as he did so.

"Okay, that was less amazing," he muttered. "I need to stop her, but I can't even see her. I can barely just feel her kicking air up around me..."

"Air, huh..." Lan pondered for a moment, before his eyes lit up. "That's it!" He reached into his folder, sending his Navi a Shotgun.

Megaman grinned as it appeared on his arm. "I get it..." He aimed and fired a series of shots in all directions, kicking up a large volume of smoke all around. Looking around, he quickly caught sight of a disruption in the smoke, moving around him in circles at an incredible speed.

"There you are!" He grinned, receiving two Energy Bombs and tossing them directly in Roll's path. She yelped, slowing down and leaping into the air, finally visible again. She quickly looked around, trying to find her opponent; looking behind her, she found Megaman leaping in her direction.

"Got you!" He thrust his arm right into her stomach, firing a High Cannon as he did so. Reeling from the impact, Roll fell quickly back to the ground and hit it hard, as he landed on his feet, his vision starting to return to normal.

Lan grinned. "Nice work, Megaman!"

Mayl frowned, disappointed, but her expression quickly rebounded into a smirk. "Pretty good, Lan, but we're not done yet!" They both looked into their PETs, excited, as Megaman and Roll continued their battle.

* * *

Chaud ran down the hallway until he found himself at a split in the path. He looked in both directions, listening carefully, trying to track down the man he was chasing.

"He shouldn't be this hard to find... how many paths can there be around here?" He walked a little ways down one path, then stopped himself when he heard muffled voices from nearby. He started inching toward the sound, trying to get a closer listen.

"...under the stands, as you recommended. I also have access to the intercom, so I can make the announcement anytime I want. It just won't be from the winner's podium like we wanted. We could get billions for all those people..."

Another voice spoke, one that Chaud couldn't understand. He kept moving closer, not wanting to miss anything.

"That's not the..." Bruno said in response to the voice, sounding shocked. "You mean we're really going to..."

"...not the reason we came," the other voice replied, as Chaud came to a stop right outside of the room where they were talking. "The purpose of being here was to establish ourselves in this nation. With this display, Electopia, too, will grow to fear the name of Nebula."

_Nebula, huh..._ Chaud thought to himself, intimately familiar with the criminal organization. _Great... so they're expanding operations into this country as well..._ He pulled out his PET and held it in front of him, a little lower; holding it at an angle, he was able to see a reflection of the room within. Bruno was standing inside, speaking to somebody via his own PET.

"Yes, sir, I understand." Bruno nodded. "We will show these people who Nebula really is... I will not fail you." He turned off his PET and turned around, to find Chaud standing in the doorway.

"I don't know what you're planning, but it ends here," he said defiantly, holding his PET by his side.

* * *

Inside the bomb, Protoman was hard at work defusing, using his sword to cut through key wires as he studied them closely.

"Standard fare so far," he muttered to himself. "Only one more to go..."

He walked up to the final group of wires, taking a close look, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning quickly, he saw a large number of dog-like Spikey and pendulum-like Heavy viruses heading toward him, ready to attack.

"Damn it... I don't have time for this!" Protoman brandished his sword, staring the viruses down as they closed in. He dashed forward, ready to strike, as the bomb remained armed and threatening.

* * *

"What are you doing here, you little snoop?" Bruno demanded. His eyes quickly spotted the Official insignia on the boy's jacket, and he snorted in amusement. "You pretending like you're an Official or something?"

Chaud stepped forward into the room, used to people underestimating him. "Eugene Chaud, ONB. Nebula won't be causing any trouble here, not on my watch."

Bruno laughed in response, a bit incredulous. "What, they're making kids like you into ONBs now? They must be really hard up." He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out some sort of remote control device. "Well, whatever. Even if you were an adult, there's nothing you could do to stop me now."

Chaud's eyes narrowed as he focused on the remote, trying not to react and failing. Bruno smirked in response. "You know what this is, don't you? And you know what happens when I press it."

The young Official glanced back up. "What is it that you want?"

"Now you're showing some sense." Bruno chuckled, holding the remote out to his side, taunting Chaud a bit, enjoying the moment of being in power. "Alright, then. What I want... is to show this country the power of Nebula." Without another word, he brought the remote back in and pushed the button on it. Chaud flinched and braced himself, waiting for the sound of an explosion.

Several tense seconds later, neither one of them had heard a sound. Chaud exhaled, relieved, while Bruno quickly became confused and angry.

"What? Why didn't it work?!" He started pressing the button repeatedly with his thumb, as Chaud smirked, standing up fully.

"Looks like Protoman did his job," he commented, his confidence having returned. "You've got nowhere else to go now, pal."

Bruno glared, furious, gritting his teeth. "You little brat... you think you're going to stop me? I'd like to see how you're going to do that, you stupid kid!" He ran directly toward Chaud, his fist raised, before he stopped cold in front of the young boy, his body shaking. Seconds later, he fell backward toward the ground, unconscious and twitching lightly, as Chaud stared down at him. He held his PET tightly in his hand, the top of which had grown two metal points, with electricity sparking between them.

"The same way I stop everyone else," he answered, before touching his PET and activating the phone function.

* * *

Megaman and Roll were both breathing heavily, staring each other down in the Cyber arena, after a tough battle.

"Both Navis are starting to reach their limits, it looks like! We might be coming to the end of this battle!" the announcer called out, as the crowd buzzed with excitement.

"He's right... this battle's way tougher than I thought..." Megaman stood up a little, catching his breath. "More power to them, but we could lose if we don't pull something out."

"Then we'll have to step it up a notch," Lan responded, so that Mayl couldn't hear. "We've still got one last good trick up our sleeves... you think you're ready for it?"

Megaman grinned. "Well, if I'm not, we're about to find out..." He extended his arm, focusing intently as a Cannon appeared on the end of it.

"What's he up to...?" Roll wondered, as a High Cannon appeared on Megaman's other arm. Not wanting to take chances, she dashed forward and tried to attack, but he leaped backward and landed on top of a large boulder behind him. He grinned as he put his hands together, and they both glowed a bright white.

"Let's see if you're fast enough to avoid this!" he called out, as the bright light faded, leaving a massive Zeta Cannon attachment on his arm. He pointed it directly at Roll, as the cannon began firing shots as rapidly as a submachine gun. Roll yelped as massive explosions appeared in front of her, and she took off running. Megaman grinned as he followed her with the Zeta Cannon, the cannon blasts following her closely as she ran in a circle, trying to get ahead of them.

"Gah!" She screeched to a stop as an explosion landed right in front of her, losing her footing and falling onto her back. She could do nothing but brace herself as the cannon blasts landed all around her.

When the explosions finally stopped, Roll was still lying back, having summoned a Barrier to try and protect her. She was completely surrounded by smoke, unable to see any other part of the Cyberworld, much less her opponent. The barrier quickly disappeared, having been stretched to its limit; as she tried to get to her feet, however, she saw a blue foot appear from the smoke and come to rest on her torso, pushing her back down as she gasped. She watched with wide eyes as Megaman came into view in front of her, grinning, with one last High Cannon formed on his hand.

"Sorry, Roll," he offered, aiming the cannon down at her as the smoke cleared, revealing the two Navis to the observing crowd. "But that's game."

Roll closed her eyes and smiled, defeated. "I guess so."

* * *

"Roll and Mayl have admitted defeat! Lan Hikari advances to the national level with Eugene Chaud!"

The crowd let out a huge cheer, as Mayl pulled her cable out of the Cyber arena, smiling sadly. Lan jacked out as well, walking up to her.

"That was a great fight, Mayl," he offered. "I had no idea Roll could be such a tough opponent!"

"Thanks, Lan." She smiled back at him, offering her hand. "You and Megaman were great. But you better bring it all home after this, understand?"

He grinned and nodded, accepting her handshake. "Yes, ma'am." They started walking down the stairs, back toward the lounge, when he noticed Chaud walking toward the same door.

"Hey! Chaud!" Lan ran over to him. "It's going to be you and me at nationals! How about that?"

"Huh?" Chaud blinked, surprised, having been rather deep in thought. "Oh, yeah... sure..." He kept on walking, going through the doors on his way out of the stadium.

Lan cocked his head. "What's with him? He looks pretty distracted by something."

"I don't know," Mayl responded. "Official stuff, maybe? I thought he'd be happier about winning."

"Lan Hikari and Eugene Chaud are our winners!" the announcer called out. "If both of them would come back up here, we'd like to present them with their prizes!"

Lan grinned and turned around. "Well, whatever. I got other things to think about now."

She grinned as well, giving him a gentle push toward the stage. "Go and get your trophy, Mr. Champion." He nodded and ran up toward the arena again, ready to claim his prize as the crowd cheered for him.


	4. Unorthodox Investigation

"Man... he said he'd be done like ten minutes ago..." Lan fidgeted on a bench, waiting impatiently.

"Are you always this antsy, Lan?" Megaman wondered aloud.

"No, I'm just hungry! And I'm getting bored waiting in Dad's office, there's nothing to do here." It was the Tuesday after the Den City Tournament, and Lan's father had suggested the family go out for dinner, to celebrate Lan's victory. After spending the afternoon downtown, he had proceeded to his father's SciLab office to wait out the remaining minutes.

"Give him some time, Lan, you know he's busy..." No sooner had Megaman said this than a nearby door opened, and Yuichiro Hikari walked out, accompanied by another scientist, with long black hair, a monocle, and a goatee.

"That should cover just about everything," Yuichiro said, shaking hands with the scientist. "A pleasure as always, Lucius. Good to have you back."

"Same to you, Yuichiro." As Lucius shook his partner's hand, he saw Lan out of the corner of his eye, walking over. "Well, hello there. Lan, right? I haven't seen you since you were a toddler." He extended his hand once again.

"Er... hi." Lan accepted his hand, shaking it. "Sorry, I don't think I remember you, Mr..."

"No worries. Lucius Regal. I'm a colleague of your father's." He stood up straight. "I saw your performance at the tournament this weekend. You've become quite the Netbattler. I think we can expect great things from you, Lan." Regal gave him a smile before heading out, as Lan's eyes followed him.

"Am I supposed to know him, Dad?"

"Eh." Yuichiro shrugged. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize him. It's been years since he was last in the country. He's been doing research for one of our top-secret SciLab projects."

"Really?" Lan wondered, looking back at his father. "What is it?"

His father laughed. "What part of 'top-secret' didn't you get? Now come on, your mother's probably waiting for us to get home." He put his hand on Lan's head, mussing his hair. "Ready to go, champ?"

"You bet!" Lan answered, grinning, eager to finally get out of here.

"Ahem." Both Hikaris looked over, to see Chaud standing in the doorway, much to Lan's surprise. "Dr. Hikari, I believe we were supposed to discuss something..." He looked over at Lan, not expecting him to be present, and clearly not wanting him to hear.

"Right, right..." Dr. Hikari motioned Chaud over into the room he had just left, much to Lan's chagrin. "Sorry, Lan, I'll be just another five minutes." The two of them entered the room and closed the door, before Lan had a chance to protest.

"Oh, come on! What is Chaud doing here? Why does he need to talk to my dad?" Lan groaned, sitting back down on the bench, irritated and hungry.

"Must be something pretty important," Megaman mused. "Chaud did seem pretty distracted after the Den City Tournament, didn't he? Maybe this is related to that."

"Maybe..." Lan looked around the room, bored, until his eyes came to rest on a drinking glass sitting near his father's desk. He grinned, getting an idea. "Only one way to find out!" He walked over to it and picked it up, heading to the door.

"Lan, this not a good idea..." his Navi warned.

"Oh come on, what harm could it do?" Lan put the glass on the door, and his ear against the glass, listening in as Chaud and Dr. Hikari spoke.

"...So Nebula is operating in Electopia now..." Yuichiro muttered. "Looks like they won't stop until they're feared all over the world."

"The culprit's being questioned right now, but he's not exactly cooperative," Chaud continued. "Though he's not exactly bright, either. He's let slip that Electopia is holding onto something that Nebula wants... something they want to control, I guess."

"Control, huh?" Yuichiro mused. "Interesting word choice... he hasn't mentioned the Cybeasts, has he?"

_Cybeasts?_ Lan wondered, as Chaud answered.

"That's what I thought at first, too, but he hasn't let slip anything about that." Lan heard Chaud pace across the floor. "He could be referring to the Mother Computer for all we know. I don't think he's going to let himself give up any more information."

Lan heard the two walk toward the door, and he dashed away, placing the glass back and hopping back onto the bench. A second later, the door opened as the two emerged.

"Well, if you find anything else out, let us know immediately," Yuichiro commanded.

"Of course." Chaud nodded and took his leave, walking out of the office. Lan stood up, as his father stretched his back.

"Finally... now I'm done. Ready to eat?"

Lan nodded. "I've been ready! Let's go!" The two of them walked out into the hallway of SciLab's second floor.

"Oh, and if you ever listen in on my private conversations again, you're grounded. Understand?"

Lan faltered. "Er..."

Yuichiro smirked, pressing the elevator button. "You're not half as stealthy as you think you are, Snake Pliskin." Lan looked down, embarrassed, as the both of them got in the elevator.

* * *

"Find anything, Megaman?"

Megaman shook his head, as he explored another page of the Net. "No, still nothing. I've tried looking for like seven different spellings."

Lan rubbed his forehead, frustrated, as he sat in his computer chair at home. After eating a meal out with his parents, he had come back home and gotten on the Net, hoping to find information about the Cybeasts, but he was turning up completely empty-handed.

"I don't think we're going to find anything, Lan," Megaman suggested. "This is stuff your dad didn't want us to hear. It's probably top-secret. Let's just forget about it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Lan started to jack his Navi out, when a beeping sound came from his PET.

"Huh, you just got some mail, from an unknown address." Megaman opened it and read it aloud. "'If you're looking for information about the Cybeasts, come to the enclosed IP address. Don't bring anyone else.'"

"Wha... really?" Lan's eyebrows raised. "Who would send us something like that?"

Megaman closed the email. "There's no way this isn't a trap, Lan."

"Maybe... but maybe it's not..." Lan sat back, considering the proposal.

"No, Lan, it is absolutely a trap. Going there is a bad idea."

"Is it, though?" he wondered aloud. "Even if we don't learn anything about the Cybeasts, now we know there's someone out there who knows about them. Dad would want to know about that."

Megaman sighed, knowing that his operator was already sold on this terrible idea. "And when he finds out you were doing this, he's going to flay you alive."

"Well, it's still better that he knows, isn't it?" Lan sat up. "We could be extra careful... if there are any signs of trouble, I could jack you out right away. What do you think, Megaman?"

"You know what I think, Lan." Megaman rubbed his head. "I guess I am curious about the Cybeasts... fine, let's check it out. But if it looks even a little bit cagey, we need to get out of there right away, got it?"

"Of course," Lan replied. "Let's get going, before whoever's waiting for us decides to leave." Megaman nodded and headed back into the Net, moving toward the specified location.

* * *

Shortly after, Megaman came to a rather shady-looking portion of the Net. He looked around, making sure he was in the right place.

"Here it is, Lan... but I don't see anybody around here."

Lan frowned. "Well, keep looking around, he may be hiding somewhere. But be careful, we don't want-"

With a sudden flash, a wall of light appeared and formed a wide circle around Megaman; he jumped and whirled around, looking at it, eyes wide.

"Damn it! I knew this was a trap!" Megaman gritted his teeth, running up to the wall and pounding on it, wondering if there was any way to break through. "Lan! Jack me out, quick!"

"I'm trying!" Lan replied, fiddling with his PET, seeing errors pop up on his screen. "My connection's messed up! If I unplug, we might just lose the connection!"

"Gah, seriously?" Megaman walked toward the wall. "This isn't good..."

"You don't know the half of it!" He turned around to find himself faced with a dozen dark Navis, all of them with weapons out, as one of them spoke. "You should never have tried to mess with Nebula, idiot!"

The Navis all clamored toward him, ready to strike, as he jumped out of the way. "What? Nebula? I was just trying to find something out about the Cybeasts!"

"Don't play dumb!" Two Navis swiped at him with swords simultaneously; Megaman barely dodged, gritting his teeth again.

"Ugh, they're not going to listen, Lan! We need to fight!"

"Got it!" Lan replied quickly, sending Megaman a Wide Sword. He immediately dashed forward and sliced, cutting through two Navis immediately. The others, however, managed to surround him, firing strange orange beams at him from their weapons. He tried his best to dodge them, but several of them managed to make contact, sticking to his frame like orange paint.

"Gah! What are you doing?!" Megaman looked down, watching as the beams started to encase his torso, solidifying into an orange, crystalline mass, binding his body and arms.

"Megaman! What's going on?" Lan asked, as Megaman backed away from the other Navis, trying to move his arms in any way.

"They've got me... trapped somehow!" He struggled to free himself, trying to run away, but when he turned around he only found himself face-to-face with the light wall keeping him trapped. Hesitating for just a moment, he yelped as he felt more of the crystal mass binding his legs, rendering him immobile. He cursed loudly, as another Navi laughed and kicked him over, knocking him onto his back.

"That was too easy. What kind of moron listens to emails like that from random strangers?" He raised his sword. "Too bad, so sad. End of the line for you!"

Megaman closed his eyes, unable to move and waiting for the Navi to strike. After a few seconds, he felt something hit him, but it was much too large to be a sword; he opened his eyes to see the disembodied head of his captor lying on top of him. He yelped and shook it away, looking up and around for whatever had decapitated the Navi, finding it quickly. Over to his right, wielding a large energy sword, stood a tall, black-armored Navi in a blue cape and black helmet.

"It's you!" one of the Nebula Navis declared. "Everyone, delete that Navi, now!" The Navis quickly swarmed the mysterious stranger, attempting to attack him, as he turned on them. He dashed forward, swiping furiously with his sword, quickly appearing on the other side of the bunch. The Nebula Navis stood still for a moment, before they all exploded one by one, disappearing into deletion.

Megaman watched with wide eyes. "Holy cow... who is this guy..."

The black Navi turned to Megaman, firing a quick shot at his torso and dissolving the orange prison encasing him, as the wall of light surrounding the area disappeared. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, standing up, rubbing his arms. "Yeah, I'm fine... thanks for saving me..."

The Navi nodded, putting his sword away. "A word of advice: if you're looking for the Cybeasts, stop now. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." He turned away. "You should leave." The Navi disappeared in a flash of black light, jacking out.

Megaman stared at where he was, lost in thought, not realizing Lan was calling him. "Megaman! What happened?"

"Uh..." He took a second to come to his senses. "Some mysterious Navi showed up... deleted all of the Nebula Navis like it was nothing..."

"I'm jacking you out, Megaman," Lan responded. "I don't want to know what else is waiting for you there." Megaman nodded, as he exited in a flash of light, returning to Lan's PET. Lan sat back in his chair, relieved, as his Navi restored himself.

"Who was this Navi? Did you catch his name?"

Megaman shook his head. "He didn't say... he just appeared, saved me, and left."

"Weird..." Lan pondered to himself. "How did he know you were there? Was he following you?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about him... maybe he was nearby, and I was just lucky."

Lan stood up, stretching his arms and looking at the time. "Lucky is right... guess we know what happens if we try to look into the Cybeasts now, huh?"

"Lan, if you have me do anything like this again, I'm going to re-merge the real world and the Cyberworld just so I can punch you."

"Alright, I get it..." Lan walked over to his bed, yawning and setting his PET down on his nightstand. "Let's just focus on the tournament from now on. We need to keep training so we can win, right?"

Megaman nodded. "Right. We're going to be up against some tough competition. We don't need to be getting in more trouble."

"Yeah, I know... no more trouble, promise." Lan changed into his pajamas, turning off the lights and slipping into bed.

"See you tomorrow, Lan."

Lan nodded. "Night," he mumbled before drifting off to sleep.


	5. We Interrupt This Program

Lan stood outside the massive DenDome arena, looking up at it as he prepared to enter for the second time in as many weeks. He grinned to himself in anticipation, once again envisioning his victory, as the various denizens of Den City bustled around him, entering the building and making their way toward the stands.

"Time for round two, Megaman." He looked down at his PET. "You ready?"

"You bet!" Megaman gave his operator a thumbs-up. "After that upgrade your dad gave me, I feel like a million bucks! Let's do this!"

Lan nodded and walked inside, making his way toward the competitors' lounge, ready to see his first-round matchup.

* * *

Earlier that day, Lan had gotten an urgent e-mail from his father: _Come visit me at SciLab before going to the tournament!_ Rushing over quickly, Lan arrived with time to spare, entering his dad's office to find him in a rather pleasant mood.

"Bring Megaman over here!" His father quickly stood up, looking rather excited; Lan knew that this meant his father had just created something he thought was really awesome. "I've got something for him."

A minute later, Megaman had been transferred into Yuichiro's PC, where he had been placed into a sleeping state. A number of devices were hovering around him, examining and working on his frame.

"So what's this upgrade supposed to do exactly?" Lan asked, watching the devices work through the main screen of Yuichiro's PC.

"A couple of things," his father replied. "It'll make him a bit faster, a bit stronger, for starters... but there's something else I've put in there as well. Something experimental that I've been working on in my spare time."

"Experimental? What is it?"

Yuichiro smirked. "That'd ruin the surprise. You'll find out what it is when it activates. If it works, that is."

Lan frowned. "What happens if it doesn't work?"

"Then it's back to the drawing board, is what. It won't break Megaman, though, don't worry. I've added in some failsafes."

Lan reached out and tugged his father's sleeve. "So what is it, then? C'mon, tell me!"

With a loud ding, the machines on the screen stopped operating all at once, drawing Lan's attention. The devices quickly moved away from Megaman, as the Navi slowly opened his eyes.

"There, all done. That was quick." Yuichiro turned to the screen. "How do you feel, Megaman?"

Megaman looked down at himself, examining his arms, his body, trying to determine exactly how he felt. "I'm... fine." He lifted his arms, jumping around a bit, grinning at how light his frame felt. He clenched his fists, feeling strength coursing through his arms. "I feel great! I'm even stronger than I was before!"

Lan grinned. "Awesome! Now we can really tear it up at the tournament!" He plugged his PET into the machine, bringing his Navi back to the device.

"Good luck today, Lan. I'm sure you and Megaman will do great," Yuichiro encouraged. "I won't be there for the first round, but your mother and I will be there for the other rounds. Try to hang in there until then, alright?"

"Don't worry, Dad! I won't be losing in the first round, trust me!" Lan took off, waving goodbye and quickly exiting the large building, heading toward DenDome.

* * *

Walking into the competitors' lounge, Lan found a variety of faces, male and female, young and old, mostly unfamiliar. Some were chatting animatedly with each other, while others kept to themselves, focused intently on the battles ahead. He took a look down at his watch.

"Looks like we're just in time. The tournament should begin in... twenty minutes? I think." He looked around again, and on the second sweep of the room a familiar face jumped out at him.

"It's Chaud! Hey, Chaud!" he called out, running toward the young Official. Chaud looked over as Lan ran up to him.

"Good to see you're here, too! It wouldn't be any fun if we couldn't fight Protoman!"

Chaud smirked. "Well, your fun isn't going to last very long." He gestured with his head toward a nearby wall, where Lan could see the tournament pairings on an electronic billboard. "Take a look." Lan walked over to take a look at the bracket.

"What's the story, Lan?" Megaman asked from his PET.

"Looks like two people from this tournament will advance, like last time... we're up against someone named Circusman in the first round..." Lan mused, before his eyebrows shot up. "Ah! Chaud's fight is the one right after ours!"

"No way! So we're going to fight him in the second round?"

"Exactly," Chaud answered, walking up from behind. "Only one of us will be moving on to the international level. And it's going to be me."

"We'll see about that." Lan smirked. "I've always liked a challenge."

"You'll get one," Chaud responded, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. "In any case, you should be on your guard. I'm sure you overheard plenty of my conversation with your father, so you'll know Nebula's got a hand in the tournament somewhere. Stay alert, and let me know if you see anything strange."

"I will." Lan's expression turned serious again, as Chaud turned and walked away.

"Nebula... what could they want here at the tournament?" Megaman wondered aloud. "Not the Cybeasts, you don't think?"

"I'm not sure," Lan responded, pulling out the PET to look at his Navi. "How would they be related to the tournament, anyway?"

His Navi shrugged. "I have no idea. But I don't know anything about them in the first place, so..."

"Well, if they are planning anything, I'm sure the Officials are taking care of it", Lan answered. "And in the meantime, if they try anything here, we'll be here to stop them!"

Megaman nodded, as the two started discussing the battles they had ahead of them.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!"

The crowd cheered, as the young announcer stood in the middle of the arena. "Welcome to the national round of the Red Sun Netbattle Tournament! All around the Western hemisphere, Netbattlers are vying for their respective national titles, while our friends in the East duke it out in their own rounds of the Blue Moon Tournament!"

He paused to adjust his sunglasses and take a breath. "Once all nations have found their champions, the Red Sun and the Blue Moon will come together at the world championships, in our neighboring nation of Creamland! One of these great competitors will take home the title of World's Greatest Netbattler! Will it be one of our own, from the great nation of Electopia?"

The crowd cheered raucously, in support of their nation's Netbattlers, and the announcer grinned and continued, loving his job. "Well, without further ado, let's get this tournament underway!"

The audience applauded a third time, an infinite supply of noise and candor. Chaud's father was once again in attendance, in the front row of the VIP box, clapping lazily as he watched. A few rows behind him, Yai sat in her family's reserved seats, along with her parents, Mayl, Dex, and their teacher, Ms. Mari, making a much larger and louder group.

From the research room in SciLab, Yuichiro Hikari watched from a television placed on a nearby machine as he worked. He noticed a pair of footsteps walking up to him, bit didn't look back, knowing who they belonged to.

"Alright, our additional security has been put in place," Dr. Regal reported. "Nobody is getting in from the outside, unless one of us lets them in."

Dr. Hikari nodded. "Good to hear." He didn't look away from the screen, knowing that if Regal had taken on the task itself, it was going to be done perfectly.

"So your boy is supposed to be first, I hear?" Regal asked. Yuichiro nodded, and his colleague grinned. "Going up against Electopia's best, hm? This should be interesting." They both paused to watch for a minute, as the announcer continued.

"Our first Netbattler hails from Cyber City, and operates the unique clown-like Navi, Circusman! Make some noise for Yuika Chirol!" A twenty-something girl emerged from the doors, entering the arena, and was met with applause; she bore a kimono and white face makeup, and her long black hair was tied up in large loops. She waved to the crowd as she took her place at the Netbattle stand.

"Her opponent is a sixth-grade student from ACDC Town, here in Den City! Operating the powerful Megaman, give it up for Lan Hikari!" The crowd cheered again as Lan walked through the doors, waving to the crowd. He quickly spotted his supporters in their VIP box, yelling out and spinning noisemakers.

"Go, Lan!" Yai and Dex yelled out, cupping their hands to their mouths.

"Remember your promise!" Mayl called out; Lan grinned and nodded to her. With Mayl's twelfth birthday a week away, they had agreed that Lan would be relieved of his gift-buying duties if he managed to make it through the national tournament. Mayl was hoping to get pictures of herself with Lan and his trophy, in order to convince a penpal of hers from Ameroupe.

Lan approached the battle arena and extended his hand, which Yuika eagerly shook. Both of them looked excited for the upcoming battle, her even more than him, which he didn't think was possible.

"The two Netbattlers are ready! Both of you, jack in your Navis!"

Lan pulled out the cord on his PET and sent his Navi into the Cyberworld; Yuika quickly followed suit. As the two Navis appeared in the arena, Megaman looked up at his opponent; large, round, festive, and covered in red and white circus stripes, Circusman was an intimidatingly large Navi, if a bit silly looking.

Megaman barely had time to register his opponent's appearance before being aware of cheers all around him. Blinking and looking around, He found that the Cyberworld, too, had been outfitted with spectators' stands, and all sorts of Navis were watching and cheering the two competitors on. He had to laugh, incredulous.

"Man, they thought of everything! Even the Navis get to watch!" He spotted Roll, Gutsman and Glyde in the stands as well, waving and cheering his name; he waved back at them excitedly. He glanced toward his opponent, who was waving at the crowd with both hands, hamming it up.

"Both Navis appear to be ready!" the announcer called out. "The first battle of the tournament will begin... now!"

Circusman was the first to act, swinging his arms out in front of him. His white-gloved hands detached from their wrists, growing to great size as they moved to either side of Megaman. He yelped and quickly jumped out of the way before the two hands clapped together, nearly squishing him.

He received a High Cannon from Lan as the hands turned into fists, continuing to pursue him, trying to deliver a massive, Navi-sized punch. Megaman quickly leaped into the air, jumping on top of one of the fists before leaping a second time. He aimed his cannon at his unsuspecting foe, landing a direct hit on Circusman's chin. The Navi was knocked onto his back, rolling a little bit like a ball, and his hands quickly shrunk and returned to him.

"First blood goes to Megaman!" the announcer called out. "Great reflexes!" Circusman rolled backward, doing a reverse somersault to get back onto his feet, a large, silly grin still plastered on his face.

"You're a tough one!" he called out. "But I know just how to tame you, Megaman!"

He extended his arm out to his side, a long whip forming in his hand. He cracked the whip twice, the sound echoing throughout the arena, and with each crack a large hoop appeared on either side of Lan's Navi, appearing in a quick flash of flame. Megaman looked to his left and right, cautious but curious, as an angry and vicious lion leaped out of each one.

"Whoa!" He quickly scrambled backward, trying to create some space between himself and these wild creatures, as they snarled and crept toward him. He quietly requested a Sword chip from Lan, not wanting these things to do too much damage before he had to fight Circusman himself.

"Have fun!" Circusman taunted in a singsong voice, watching as the lions pounced, barely missing their target. He leaped backward, before standing up on the tiptoes of his tiny feet. "And now for my next trick..."

The crowd watched, curious, as Circusman's round torso began to spin around. As it spun faster and faster, the red and white tent-like material he wore began to lift up, revealing a surprisingly skinny body connecting his head to his feet. Megaman glanced over at him quickly, curious, as he managed to stab one of the lions through its head, causing it to dissolve away in deletion.

As Circusman spun faster, the atmosphere of the Cyberworld began to darken, and the air began to fill with a number of yellow, glowing particles. Everyone leaned in a little farther, curious to see what was going on, when some of the Navis in the stands began to collapse.

Dispatching the second lion, Megaman turned quickly to see what was going on, but suddenly cried out, feeling a massive wave of fatigue hit him, and he sank to one knee. "What's he... doing?"

"Megaman! What's happening?" Lan called out, able to see that this was no ordinary attack. His Navi didn't reply, trying to return to a standing position, but quickly looking his strength. The Navis in the stands screamed and tried to escape, but they, too, began to collapse one by one, feeling the energy drain out of them. Some of them were jacked out by their operators, while others erected barriers to try and protect themselves.

"Hee hee hee!" Circusman cackled as the glow in the air grew brighter, and the numerous particles in the air began flying toward him, collecting in the large vacuum in his torso. "This should be more than enough energy to awaken our two friends!"

"Hold... hold it..." Megaman outstretched his buster arm, trying to get off a shot, but he didn't even have the energy to do that. He collapsed to the ground, as nearly the entire Navi crowd fell silent; only a lucky few, who had erected powerful barriers, remained standing. All of the glowing energy, taken from the Navis, collected under Circusman, who stopped spinning; his tent-like cover dropped down, holding the energy in the massive space in his stomach.

"Megaman?! Megaman!" Lan cried out into his PET's screen, as the crowd outside of the Cyberworld began to panic. He grabbed a recovery chip and slotted it into his PET, trying to give his Navi strength. His eyes widened as he saw the chip take no effect; whatever Circusman had done, it had damaged Megaman on a much deeper level than a normal attack. Yuika laughed, jacking her Navi out, as many of the Officials standing around the arena started moving in to apprehend her.

"Looks like our work here is done!" she declared, grinning as she looked around at her would-be captors. "I'll be seeing you all again, I'm sure!" She quickly threw something down toward the ground, which exploded into a massive cloud of smoke. The crowd yelped as the watching Officials moved in to seize her; when the smoke cleared, they had all gotten a tight grip on each other, and Yuika had vanished. Gritting his teeth, Lan turned his attention back toward Megaman, who was lying nearly motionless on the ground.

"Megaman!" Roll, who had remained standing, ran over toward the downed Navi and kneeled next to him, holding him up slightly. "Are you alright?"

"Unh... Roll..." Megaman looked up, his eyes half-focused, barely conscious.

"Megaman, hold on... we can fix this..." she coaxed, rather anxious and trying to think of a way to fix him up quickly. As she fretted and held Megaman in her hands, both of the Navis started to glow pink, causing Roll to jump a bit. A second later, the glow faded, and Megaman's eyes suddenly opened wide, as he sat up.

"Whuh..." Megaman looked down at his hands and arms, feeling his energy return. "Roll... what happened? What did you do?"

"I... I don't know!" Roll looked down at herself, equally astonished. "Was that even me? I've never done anything like that before!"

Megaman quickly hopped up. "Well, let's figure it out later! We need to go after those two!" Roll nodded and quickly stood up after him, but just as quickly faltered, falling forward, her frame going limp. He gasped and quickly reached out his arms to catch her.

"Roll! What's wrong?!" He looked over her face, her eyes glassy. She relaxed against him for a minute, as he studied her, quickly coming to a realization. "Wait, did you... give me your energy, or something?"

After looking at her in amazement for a moment, he quickly shook his head, snapping himself back into the moment. He looked up, toward where he was sure Mayl was watching. "Mayl, jack Roll out! She needs to be restored!"

An instant later, Roll vanished upward in a flash of light, as Megaman quickly followed suit. Wasting no time, Lan turned on his heel and ran toward the door, only to collide headfirst with another boy, who was running in the same direction from a different angle. Both of them were knocked to the ground.

"Ow!" Lan sat up, dazed, his eyes quickly focusing on the obstacle he had just collided with. "Chaud?!"

Chaud quickly stood up, rubbing his head. "Ugh, watch where you're going, would you?" He started running again, as Lan hopped up and followed suit.

"Where are you going? Are you following them, too?"

"Of course I am. I'm hopping the Metroline to SciLab." Chaud quickly leaped down a set of stairs. "Come along if you want, but don't blame me if you get your Navi deleted." Lan nodded, following close behind.

* * *

"What in the hell just happened?!" Yuichiro stared at the TV in the research room, trying to register the events of the last two minutes. "She must be with Nebula... there's no way she's not on her way here."

"I can't think of anywhere else they would go," Dr. Regal muttered, watching from behind as one of his hands picked up a piece of metal piping. "Doing something like this on live television... they're bold, you have to give them that."

"You really don't," Yuichiro replied, rubbing his head as he walked over to his desk to grab his PET. "I'm going to get the Officials ready to intercept her. You've got cybersecurity under control, right?"

"Don't worry about that, Yuichiro." Dr. Regal lifted the pipe and brought it down onto the head of Dr. Hikari, who quickly crumpled to the ground, unconscious. He grinned as he tossed the weapon aside. "I've got everything under control."

Regal chuckled as he walked calmly out of the room, leaving Lan's father bleeding on the floor.


	6. Cybeasts Reborn

Lan watched his PET carefully as he called his father for the fourth time, hoping the call would finally go through. He groaned as he found himself sent straight to voicemail again.

"Damn it!" He thrust the device back into his belt holster, as the Metroline he was riding slowed to meet the SciLab stop. "Dad's still not answering!"

"Not a good sign," Chaud responded from one seat in front. "They may be blocking communications into that building somehow. And the only reason they'd do that is if they needed a lot of time in there."

Lan didn't like the sound of that. "Chaud, the Cybeasts aren't in SciLab, are they?"

"They're being held in stasis in one of SciLab's servers. They're under heavy guard, and it would take a large amount of energy to revive them... but it seems neither of those things are going to be problems for Nebula."

The train stopped, and Chaud quickly leapt up. "Which means we've got to hurry if we're going to stop them." Lan jumped up after him, and they both ran toward SciLab as quickly as they could.

* * *

Deep inside a SciLab server, an oddly giddy Circusman was standing at the bottom of a small set of stairs. Looking up, he saw two massive statues at the top of the stairs, sitting on a large raised platform. One statue depicted a giant wolf, not unlike the beast Gospel that was set upon the Net the previous month; the other was a large, imposing falcon.

"The coast is clear, Yuika!" he called out. "No trouble at all!"

From a room deep within the lowest basement in SciLab, Yuika Chirol watched her PET's screen with a grin on her face. "Good work, Circusman. Master Regal will be quite pleased."

"It sounds like things are going well." Yuika looked over toward the stairs, to see Dr. Regal walking down leisurely.

"Yes, master, they are." She bowed lightly as Regal approached. "There was no security to deal with at all, just as you assured. We can start awakening the Cybeasts any moment."

"Then let's not waste a moment's time." He adjusted his glasses. "Nebula's rise to power in Electopia begins now."

Yuika nodded, turning to her PET. "Circusman! Let's do it!"

"As you command!" Her Navi began spinning around once again, and his tent began to lift up as it had before, revealing the large, glowing mass of energy he held within. As he spun, the energy started to leave his body and surround the two massive beast statues. It layered them completely, eating away at the stone, and both statues began glowing as everyone watched.

"Perfect. The process is underway," Regal commented. "Now we should take our leave. It won't be long until the Officials figure out what we're up to. Leave Circusman to ensure the job gets done."

"Leave?" Yuika turned to him questioningly. "But the process isn't complete yet! Don't we need to be here to capture the Cybeasts?"

"That won't be necessary. The Cybeasts will be more than willing to listen to my commands." Regal turned and started to walk away.

Yuika was quite unsure, but nodded regardless, trusting his judgment. "Yes, master." She followed quickly after him, as the two evacuated SciLab in secrecy.

* * *

Chaud and Lan emerged from the subway and quickly raced toward SciLab, nervous, imagining a building under siege with barricaded doors and numerous armed Nebula agents. As they arrived, both of them were even more shocked to find the building looking perfectly normal. They looked around the lobby as they entered the front doors, mystified to see business going on as usual.

"What the..." Chaud walked slowly through the lobby, with Lan following behind. "It doesn't look like Nebula's done anything. How is no one on alert? Was nobody else watching the tournament?"

"But... why wasn't Dad answering?" Lan wondered aloud, growing increasingly worried. "You go on ahead. I'm going to my dad's office."

Chaud nodded, and the two of them parted ways at the stairs. Chaud ran downstairs, to the server where the Cybeasts were being held, while Lan headed up a floor to his father's office.

"Dad?" Lan looked around as he stepped in, surprised that his father was nowhere in sight. He could hear a television nearby; it was a news report, talking about continuing troubles at the Red Sun Tournament that were keeping the Officials occupied.

"Unh..." He started at the sound of his father's voice. Looking around again, he noticed a pair of feet sticking out from behind one of the machines. His eyes widened in panic.

"Dad!" He ran over, to find his father lying on the floor, slowly regaining consciousness. He kneeled next to him, reaching out, trying to help him up. "What happened?! Are you alright?!"

"Ugh... Lan..." Yuichiro slowly got to his knees, holding his throbbing head, feeling blood matting in his hair. "Regal... it's Regal... he's after the Cybeasts, I'm sure of it..."

"Regal?! He's with Nebula?"

His father got wobblingly to his feet. "I don't know where he is now, he cold-clocked me... but he's gotta be downstairs. Cybeasts are there..."

"Dad, you're hurt. You need to sit down," Lan commented, taking his arm and trying to coax him toward a chair. "Chaud's already downstairs. I'll go join him. You stay here."

"No, hold on." Yuichiro pulled away stepped carefully over to one of the computer terminals, typing away with surprising speed despite his injury. "I can bypass some security and get you connected to the server from here. The two of you together may be able to stop them, but you need to be quick."

Lan nodded, stepping up to him and pulling out his PET, looking down into it. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this!"

"There." Yuichiro finished typing, as various system noises came out of the computer. "Quickly! Jack in!"

Lan immediately did as he was told, sending his Navi into the Cyberworld.

* * *

Deep in the SciLab servers, in the shadow of the statues of the Cybeasts, Protoman was locked in a highly irritating battle against Circusman. While Chaud's Navi was far superior offensively, Circusman seemed to be an endless barrel of stamina, taunts, and annoying laughter. After a couple minutes of battling, Protoman had made no reasonable progress, as the Cybeast statues continued to glow threateningly.

"What's the matter, Mr. Official Navi?" his foe taunted. "Not getting tired, are we?" Circusman cracked the ground with his whip, and four fire hoops appeared around Protoman. He turned around quickly, his mind racing with how he was going to handle what was coming next, but a digital lion appeared out of each one half a second later, giving Protoman almost no time to react.

With a flash, two laser blasts flew through the air, striking down two lions behind Protoman. Reacting quickly, he dashed forward and quickly took out the other two in front of him with his Long Sword.

"You look like you could use some help!" Both Navis turned to see Megaman running in, his buster out and ready for battle. Circusman frowned, not expecting to deal with both of these Navis at once, when a loud crack suddenly rang out, causing all three Navis to jump. Everyone quickly turned toward the glowing statues, to see a massive crack on the muzzle of the wolf statue; an instant later, several more cracks formed, spreading across both statues.

"No...!" Protoman gritted his teeth, as Megaman watched the stone start to break apart, a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Yes! It's done!" Circusman grinned to himself as large pieces of stone began to fall off both statues. "Come forth, Gregar and Falzar! Destroy these two!"

Both Megaman and Protoman watched, horrorstruck, as the head of the wolf statue began to move a bit. It tilted slightly to the left and right before letting out a massive roar, and the remaining stone was blasted away. The wolf Cybeast stood up and shook itself off to remove the remaining stone; beside it, the falcon Falzar outstretched its wings and shrieked, separating itself from its constraints.

"This is bad," Protoman commented. "This is very, very bad..."

"What are we supposed to do now? Do we attack?" Megaman wondered aloud, receiving a Long Sword from Lan, as the feeling of unease continued to spread throughout his body. "Would we even do anything if we did?"

"We don't have any other options now. We can't just let them go free." Protoman got into a fighter stance, as Circusman began issuing commands to the awakening Cybeasts.

"Heed my words, both of you!" he called out, trying to make himself look as imposing as possible. "Do you see these two Navis here? I command you to-" Before he could finish, Falzar screeched and dashed forward, seizing the Navi in its powerful talons.

"Agh! No! What are you doing?!" Circusman cried out, as Falzar tossed the Navi into the air. The Cybeast pointed its wings at the falling red-and-white sphere, and a number of razor-sharp feathers flew out, piercing Circusman in every part of his body. He fell heavily to the ground, completely defunct, before dissolving away into deletion.

"One attack... that's unreal..." an awestruck Protoman commented, needing a moment before he could steel himself again. "Well, here goes nothing... are you ready, Megaman?"

Megaman was far from ready, breathing heavily and feeling weak. Something was affecting him to his core, something he couldn't put his finger on.

"No... I'm... gah!"

He fell to his hands and knees, his vision swimming and his body starting to glow red and black. As pain racked his frame, he looked down toward his hands, seeing a shadow of claws and wings. Protoman watched, horrified all over again, as Megaman collapsed, his body starting to transform slowly.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out from the real world, as he and his father watched on his PET. "What's happening?!"

"Damn it! I had completely forgotten about this!" Yuichiro felt his fingers clench as he held his aching head. "This is one of the powers of the Cybeasts..."

Lan watched nervously, as his Navi desperately tried to keep control. Gregar slowly walked over toward Megaman, snarling, as Falzar advanced on Protoman, both Cybeasts ready to strike.

"Gregar! Falzar!" Dr. Regal's voice rang out through the Cyberworld, and both Cybeasts immediately snapped to attention. "Forget about them! Return to me at once!" To Protoman's surprise, both creatures immediately took off, heading in the same direction.

"Wait, what?!" Yuichiro grabbed the PET out of Lan's hands, peering into it. "Why are the Cybeasts obeying him?! What's going on?!"

He quickly handed the PET back to his son, moving as quickly as he could toward the door. "Lan, I've got to try and track those things down in our servers. Be careful with Megaman. Make sure he's okay." Lan watched him disappear before turning his attention back to the device in his hand. With the Cybeasts' presence gone, Megaman's frame quickly returned to normal, and his eyes snapped open, the wave of nausea suddenly gone.

"What... happened?" Megaman quickly got to his feet, looking down at himself.

"The Cybeasts have taken off," Protoman answered, relieved that his companion had recovered, before turning and giving chase. "I'm going to follow them. You stay behind!"

"No way!" Megaman took off after the Official Navi. "I can't let you fight those things alone!"

"You're not prepared for them! You'll just Beast Out and get in the way!" Protoman retorted, not slowing down. Megaman started to reply, when a laser blast exploded near his feet; he turned quickly to see a group of about ten Nebula Navis nearby, moving backwards as they aimed at him.

"Grr... alright, fine. You chase the Cybeasts; I'll stop these guys!" Megaman stopped running and turned toward the Nebula Navis, who began to focus their fire on him. Blaster fire repeatedly flew past him, but he was able to dodge the attacks easily, the recent upgrade to his frame starting to pull its weight. He fired his buster repeatedly, knocking down three very surprised Navis, as they started talking and running amongst themselves.

"What?! He's not supposed to be that strong!" "Did we miscalculate or something?" "RUN AWAY!"

Megaman took off after them as they fled, running past the few Navis he downed; one of them grabbed at his ankle, but a flick of his Long Sword quickly removed the offending hand. He continued chasing, as the group of Navis retreated and fired at him.

As the chase continued, Megaman cocked his head a bit, realizing something wasn't adding up. The Navis had given up on the assault, but they were refusing to jack out, risking deletion instead. He kept pursuing, firing his buster and running as fast as he could, as the Nebula Navis approached a random server building and busted in. They quickly barricaded the entrance in an attempt to keep him out, before turning and looking around, eyes widening in shock.

"What the-?!" one of them wondered aloud, as he surveyed the large, empty expanse in front of them. "What the hell happened?! Where's our base?!" The giant room was almost completely dark, as the only lights that still worked were near the entrance. Small bits of debris and machinery were scattered about, with loose connections all around the walls. Whatever had been here earlier had been uprooted and removed in a hurry.

"Those bastards! They took off without us!" another exclaimed, looking deeper into the base. "Why did they even tell us to come back here if they just..."

Walking forward, his eyes focused on something he could barely see, deep in the shadows. "Ah, cripes. So that's what they sent us back for. We need to grab the baggage and get the hell outta Dodge."

As a couple of the Navis started moving into the back, ready to extract the remaining item, the front door was suddenly blasted open, and the Navis holding it shut were knocked back. Megaman ran in, as a Mega Cannon vanished from his arm, and the Navis quickly scattered, wanting none of what he was offering.

"No time! We gotta jack out now or we're toast!"

"Hold it!" Megaman called out, dashing toward one of the Navis, but he quickly disappeared in a flash of light, followed by all of the other Navis. He cursed, looking around at the nearly empty server.

"Why did they all run here... what is this place?" Megaman walked over to one of the walls, inspecting the floor and finding a number of cables and wires, quickly piecing together how the place had been abandoned.

"What are you finding, Megaman?" Lan's voice called out.

"Looks like they've robbed this server or something. They took all of whatever used to be here." He came across a symbol crudely etched into the wall, a large "N" that seemed to be made of talons or something similar; he logged it into his memory, to ask Dr. Hikari about later. "They may have been occupying it? It's not really clear."

"Well, we can figure that out later," his operator answered. "I'm jacking you out, Megaman. Maybe we can help Chaud with the Cybeasts or something..."

"Wait." Megaman stopped moving completely, falling silent. A few seconds later, he heard a sound, halfway between a cough and a sob. "There's someone here..."

He turned back inward, toward the back of the room, which quickly grew dimmer with each step he took. Once it became too dark to see, Megaman touched his fingers to the yellow strips on his helmet, and they shone forward like a flashlight; a figure quickly came into view, taking him by surprise.

"Gah! Who are you?" He pointed his buster at the Navi on the floor, who flinched fearfully in response.

"I'm sorry!" A female voice responded, as the Navi quickly curled up into a ball, her voice despondent. "Please don't... I'll be good... I'm so sorry..."

Megaman lowered his buster, taking a closer look at the lump of a Navi on the floor. Her frame was almost entirely white, with light blue stripes running down her side; she held herself with long and frail arms as she looked down, her long, brown hair falling raggedly over her bloodshot eyes. Most disturbingly, her body was connected to a series of cables, all of which appeared to have been connected rather forcefully and unnaturally.

"I didn't know what to do... everyone left and they didn't take me... please, don't hurt me, I'm sorry..."

Megaman kneeled down next to her, putting his buster away, as fearful tears started to leak out of her eyes. Getting a closer look, he saw that this girl was covered with an assortment of cuts, scars and bruises. His breath caught, as he pieced together what had been happening to this poor girl. He had no idea what they were using her for, but he knew he was going to do something about it.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I promise," he offered, his voice gentle. "I'm with SciLab..."

"S... SciLab?" Her voice was a little less pained, though significantly less than hopeful.

"That's right. I can get you out of here. We'll keep you safe."

"No... no..." The girl shook her head. "I can't leave... they said they'd punish me if I tried to leave..."

Megaman stood up. "They're not going to hurt you again, I'll make sure of it. They'll have to go through me first." He looked at the cables that had been connected to her. "What are these cables?"

"They tell me... what to do with those... they send data to be processed..."

He nodded, brandishing his Long Sword, which made the girl flinch again. "Well, these will have to go... I'm going to cut them, okay?"

She nodded, wanting to protest but still scared of the Navi in front of her. Megaman walked around her frame, carefully slicing through every cable connected to her. The girl remained tense the entire time, her eyes fixed on his sword, until the cables were all gone and he had put the blade away.

"Hey!" Megaman looked toward the door, as the female Navi shrunk down, and he saw a number of Nebula Navis near the entrance. "You get away from her! She's ours!"

"No chance!" He fired his buster toward the door, causing the girl to shriek, and the Navis to scatter. Looking forward, he found nearly a dozen of them near the door, more than he was prepared to fight; they must have gone and obtained reinforcements.

Thinking quickly, he reached down and grasped the girl's hand. "Lan! Jack us out, quick!"

"No!" The enemies ran forward, aiming to attack, but Megaman and the girl quickly disappeared in a flash of light, both of them headed for Lan's PET.

Back in Yuichiro's office, Lan pulled out his jack-in cable, looking into his PET. "Are you alright, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded, glancing down at his companion, who was looking around at her new surroundings, terrified. "I'm fine... and the girl's okay as well... comparatively, anyway."

"We need to talk to my dad. This is getting way too complicated for me." Lan turned and walked out of the office, starting to track down his father, his mind trying to process all of the events that had just occurred. Around him, he could hear the sounds of panic, as the employees of SciLab finally realized what had just happened.


	7. The Red Sun

"Well, the good news is that you probably don't have a concussion," a doctor explained, as he carefully inspected Yuichiro HIkari and his injury. "But you should still be careful that you don't make it worse. You'll want to take it easy."

"Sure, no problem," Dr. Hikari grumbled, seated in a chair in his office at SciLab, with his son sitting close by. "Not like I have anything important going on. Never been a better time to take it easy."

"Hey, I'm just a doctor," the physician replied, stepping away. "I can't tell you how to save the Net or whatever it is you're up to. I can just tell you how to keep your brain from swelling."

"Right, right." Lan's father held his head while the doctor stepped away, walking out of the exam room and into a nearby office, as Chaud walked in with a status update.

"They're gone," he reported. "No signs of Chirol or Regal anywhere in SciLab."

"Great..." Yuichiro sighed, equal parts stunned and frustrated. "I can't believe it... I never thought Lucius could do anything like this. We knew each other in college, for Pete's sake."

"I guess you didn't know him as well as you thought," Lan offered.

"I guess not," his father replied. "Like father, like son, I suppose." Lan blinked, curious about this cryptic reply, as Chaud continued.

"The server they were using has been completely cleaned out. As far as Protoman and I can tell, they were using devices to mask and redirect their operations, so it couldn't be traced back to SciLab."

Yuichiro groaned. "We never checked any of the spaces he worked in. He could have done anything he wanted to. We trusted him implicitly. I trusted him." The confusion and the hurt in his voice came through clearly. "I couldn't possibly have imagined... an entire SciLab server filled with Nebula agents."

"Siphoning our computing power, getting into classified resources... and when they're done, they can just throw everything away, because it's not their server to manage." Chaud leaned against the wall, his arms folded. "If you have someone on the inside, like they did, it's pretty much a perfect situation."

"Well, at least they made one mistake." Yuichiro adjusted his glasses. "Iris should help us get some answers... in theory, anyway."

Lan reached for his PET, wanting to ask Megaman what he thought, before he remembered that his Navi wasn't there; he made a note to ask later. At that moment, Megaman was in one of the major SciLab computers, providing the Navi he had rescued with some company. Being taken from the Nebula server and brought to SciLab proper had done little to pacify her paranoia, and she had been extremely reluctant to cooperate, but Megaman's presence seemed to calm her somewhat. She had revealed that her name was Iris, and offered up what she knew of the Cybeasts, but her fear of retribution caused her to keep Nebula's plans secret. After much finagling and persuasion, she had reluctantly agreed to let SciLab examine her.

"Dad," Lan prompted. "What exactly are the Cybeasts?"

"The Cybeasts are... well, exactly what they look like, pretty much," Yuichiro started to explain. "Extremely powerful cyber beings that run around and cause wanton destruction. We thought they were uncontrollable, but somehow Regal's found a way to control them. Honestly, I'm not sure if that makes them more or less dangerous than before."

He stretched his arms. "Not only did they destroy plenty on their own, but to even be near them is risky. You saw what happened to Megaman earlier. Any Navi that stays near them for too long will Beast Out, transforming into a monster themselves and losing all control."

"But... Protoman was just fine," Lan replied. "Even though Megaman was totally helpless..."

"We were prepared," Chaud chimed in. "Protoman was outfitted with a certain protection device that SciLab developed. Now that those creatures are on the loose, Megaman should probably receive it as well."

"He will, definitely," Yuichiro added. "Which doesn't mean you should be going after the Cybeasts. They're far too powerful for you to try and tackle on your own, or even in a group. Not even SciLab could destroy them back in the day; that's why we had to seal them away like we did."

"Wait, you mean SciLab didn't create them?" Lan asked. "I thought that's why they were in the servers."

"What, you think we made those things? What do you think we do here?"

"I don't know!" Lan threw up his hands. "You do a lot of things here!"

His father sighed and shook his head. "No, we didn't make them. The truth is, we don't know where the Cybeasts come from."

Lan blinked. "What? You don't?"

"The Cybeasts first appeared about 15 years ago, in End Net City, but no nation or radical group took ownership for them," Yuichiro continued. "The creatures didn't have any traceable signal or anything like that, either. It's as if they came out of nowhere."

He sat up a bit, holding his aching head again. "We barely knew anything about them, and even now what we know is rather limited. Most of what we know came from a Navi who called himself Colonel, who showed up right around the same time. I don't know what his relation to the Cybeasts is, but without him, we'd never gotten as far as we did. We'll probably be hearing from him again soon..."

"Colonel, huh..." Lan reached for his PET for a second time, before stopping himself, remembering again where Megaman was. When his e-mail alert went off, though, he jumped a bit and grabbed the device, taking a look.

"Hm... oh, wow!" he exclaimed, reading. "The tournament's not cancelled! They're moving on with it today!"

"Seriously?" Chaud's eyebrows raised, before a beeping sound came from his PET as well; he pulled it out and took a look. "Huh, what do you know..."

Yuichiro chuckled. "Well, good for them. It wouldn't look good if Electopia had to drop out, even if Nebula is involved somehow."

"It starts again in one hour," Lan continued. He glanced back at his father, who was still holding his head. "Are you going to be okay if we're not here, Dad?"

"I'll be fine, Lan, don't worry," Yuichiro responded. "I need to stay and wrap things up here for a little bit, since, you know, Cybeasts... but after that I'm heading back to the house. Probably going to work from home for a week or so."

His son nodded. "Alright, well... we should probably get going now, just to be safe..."

"Let me see Megaman before you go," Yuichiro interjected. "I can make sure the Cybeasts don't affect him."

"I'll catch up." Chaud stood up. "Business before pleasure and all that. You and Megaman go ahead." Lan nodded, locating the machine that was housing his Navi and jacking in. Inside the SciLab Cyberworld, Megaman and Iris both looked up as Lan's face appeared.

"Megaman! The tournament's still going on! We need to get back to DenDome!"

"Wow, really? Alright, let's go!" He started to leave, when he heard a whimper from behind; he turned around and saw Iris looking down, rather dejected.

"Er... Iris..." he started.

"No, it's okay..." Iris shook her head. "You shouldn't have to worry about me... I'm not worth fretting over..." She looked away, fearfully glancing over some of the machines that were now examining her.

"Iris..." Megaman walked back toward her. "Don't worry, okay? No one here is going to hurt you, I promise. I'll come back after the tournament to make sure."

Iris looked up a bit, to meet Megaman's eyes, and nodded after a minute. "Alright... I trust you."

Megaman smiled. "Alright. I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded again. "Good luck..."

Megaman nodded back, right before jacking out. Iris continued to hold herself, praying Megaman wouldn't renege on his promise.

* * *

One hour later, Lan and Chaud found themselves back at DenDome, along with five other competitors and a slightly less packed crowd. The stage had been slightly rearranged; instead of two competitors standing on either side of the Cyber arena, all seven were in a circle around a much larger one. They were all focusing on the match, having been briefed beforehand, while the rest of the audience muttered in confusion, not sure what was going on. After a minute, the announcer came onstage, and was met with mild applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the International Netbattle Coalition thanks you greatly for your patience in the face of what has happened here today. Despite the disturbances that have occurred today, it has been decided that the Red Sun Tournament will continue until our two champions are found!"

The crowd, easy to please as always, cheered again, as the announcer continued. "Unfortunately, most of our competitors' Navis have become incapable of continuing, having been damaged rather severely by Circusman's antics. As you can see here, seven of our hopefuls remain, and the INC has decided that instead of continuing with the elimination brackets, the remaining contestants will face off in a battle royale! The two Navis that remain standing will go on to the world championship in Creamland!"

Lan grinned at the prospect of traveling to fight the greatest Netbattlers in the world, as the crowd made more noise in support of their nation. The announcer cleared his throat.

"So without further ado, allow me to introduce the prospective champions!" He turned to face the arena; besides Lan and Chaud, there stood a hooded boy with red hair and face paint, an effeminate-looking pink-haired man, a young woman with blue hair in priestess garb, a young man with black hair and a red visor, and an elderly male leaning heavily on a cane.

"You've already met Lan, the sixth-grader from Den City. Also from Den City is Eugene Chaud, operating the blade-wielding Protoman! Going around clockwise, we continue with Dingo and his Navi, Tomahawkman! Viddy Narcy, operating his Navi, Videoman! Lilly, with her cyber mistress of the winds, Gale! Terry of Joumon Electric, operating the electric powerhouse Sparkman! And last but not least, Tensuke, with his geriatric Navi, Topman!"

Each of the Netbattlers took a second to play to the crowd, before the announcer went on. "Aside from the number of competitors, the rules remain the same as before! Who will emerge victorious and take the national title? Let's find out, right now! Are the competitors ready?"

The circle nodded almost as one. "Alright then! Everyone, please jack in your Navis!"

Lan pulled out his PET cord, along with everyone else, and sent Megaman into the Cyberworld. Upon his arrival, Megaman took a look around the arena; the Navi stands had been removed, and the only beings present were the seven battlers. He recognized Protoman right away, and quickly scanned the other competitors, taking them in. He saw a large, yellow-and-black Navi with pointed, sparking appendages; a very old-looking Navi with a cane, whose head was comprised of several large, concentric discs; a shorter, blue, female Navi with strips of blue cloth streaming from her shoulders, elbows and knees; a taller, male Navi holding a tomahawk and wearing a feather headdress; and a green Navi, wielding long strips of black tape and wearing odd goggles.

"All the Navis have entered the Cyberworld! Let the battle begin!"

* * *

Lan instantly sent Megaman a Wide Sword and a Vulcan Cannon, as the Navis around him started moving all at once. He dashed toward Sparkman, hoping to take him by surprise, but his foe quickly turned toward him. As his sword met Sparkman's arm, he yelped as a mild shock traveled through him, and he backed off quickly. He barely had time to curse before something wound around his body, rendering him immobile; he looked down to find himself bound by black videotape.

"Gah! This is crazy!" Megaman turned to see Videoman grinning and charging a laser blast, while he sawed away at the tape with his sword; he rid himself of his constraints just in time to dodge the blast. He ran forward, swiping at Videoman's legs, as the Navi jumped up into the air, flipping above Megaman. Videoman threw out another string of tape, hoping to bind Megaman, but Lan's Navi reacted quickly and caught it in his hands. Grunting, he started spinning the tape, and Videoman, above his head, letting him go in Sparkman's direction. Moving on reflex, Sparkman stuck out one of his pointed arms, spearing Videoman on the end and electrocuting him. His operator quickly jacked him out.

"Videoman has jacked out, overwhelmed by Megaman and Sparkman's attacks! That's one Navi down!" the announcer cried out. "But wait! It seems that Topman has just been dispatched by Gale and Protoman! It looks like our competitors are inadvertently cooperating to take down their opponents!"

The audience watched intently, not wanting to miss a moment, as Lan grinned wide. He kept a Barrier at the ready, just in case, as Megaman turned his attention toward Sparkman, firing his Vulcan Cannon as he ran forward. Sparkman held his ground, generating an electric shield to deflect the bullets, which went every which way about the arena. He started focusing intently, his body glowing a light yellow, as he charged up an electric attack.

In another part of the arena, Tomahawkman was taking on both Gale and Protoman, hurling tomahawks as fast as he could generate them. Protoman deflected most of them with his Long Sword, while Gale was able to effectively dodge, using a combination of quick movement and slight changes in the wind. After a minute, she changed tack, creating a small whirlwind in front of her, which caught five tomahawks in its twirling body; two seconds later, she snapped her fingers, and the whirlwind exploded, sending tomahawks flying all over the ring. Protoman, Tomahawkman, and Megaman all managed to dodge, but Sparkman, oblivious and charging up, had one buried deep in his head. His eyes went wide, and he fell to the ground before quickly being jacked out by Terry.

"And now Sparkman is out of commission! What a match! Our seven Netbattlers have quickly been whittled down to four!" The announcer was leaning in close, trying to catch all the action. "Which of the remaining--"

He was interrupted by a loud sound from above that made him jump; looking upward, everyone found that one of the lights on the ceiling had spontaneously burst, and was smoking lightly. A second later, several other lights burst in succession, sending particles of glass raining into the crowd, who began to scream in fright.

"What's going on?!" Lan shielded himself with his arm. "Is this Nebula doing something or what?"

As if on cue, a massive roar sounded through the Cyberworld. All four of the remaining Navis looked around, trying to find the source of the roar, but there was nothing to be found.

"Oh hell, I know that sound..." Megaman gritted his teeth, steeling himself, not sure where he was supposed to look. His attention was quickly diverted, however, when Tomahawkman and Gale collapsed to the ground, holding their heads and crying out in pain. As Megaman watched, he suddenly felt a surge of pain flow through himself as well, and he fell to his knees; a second later, a small, black device attached to his hip lit up, and the pain subsided. He stood up again, his suspicions confirmed.

"Delete them both, quickly!" Protoman called out, running toward Gale. "We can't let them Beast Out!"

Megaman nodded, running toward Tomahawkman, as both Dingo and Lilly tried to jack their Navis out, to no avail. He raised his sword, ready to strike, when Tomahawkman cried out and lunged toward Megaman, swiping with claws that were forming on his hands. Megaman barely managed to dodge, watching in horror as Tomahawkman transformed; his body had grown a purplish-brown fur, and his hands had grown long, pointed claws. While his head didn't change shape, his eyes were glowing a bright yellow, and he snarled viciously, clearly out of control.

"This is really bad..." Megaman looked over to Protoman for assistance, but Chaud's Navi had his hands equally full. Gale had Beasted Out as well, and had grown red feathers and wings under Falzar's influence.

"Amazing!" the announcer exclaimed, excited. "Gale and Tomahawkman have undergone a very strange transformation! I wonder how their operators will use this to their advantage?"

"Are you nuts?!" Dingo snapped. "Does it look like we planned this out?! I can't control him! I can't even jack him out!" He held up the disconnected cable.

"Er... I see..." the announcer faltered, turning back toward the arena.

Back in the Cyberworld, Megaman was barely holding his own against the Gregar-influenced Tomahawkman. His foe's speed and strength had been significantly magnified, even more than his own, and it was all he could do to block the claws with his Wide Sword. Whenever he had a free instant, he fired his Mega Buster to try and do some extra damage. Not a single shot missed, but none of them so much as fazed Tomahawkman.

"Ugh... I can't get any good shots in on him! He's too strong, too relentless..."

Lan pulled out an Area Steal chip. "Maybe we can buy you a minute with this!"

As Tomahawkman charged again, Megaman vanished, appearing behind his adversary and swinging his sword fiercely. To Megaman's amazement, the sword shattered into pieces against his opponent's back.

"Wha... are you serious?!" Megaman backed off, his sword reverting to his hand, as Tomahawkman turned back toward him, growling and angry. "He's that strong?!"

With a powerful roar, Tomahawkman charged again, catching Megaman off guard with a powerful shoulder check, sending his foe flying backward and landing on his back. He sat up quickly as Tomahawkman jumped toward him, paws outstretched. He reached out with his arms, hoping to defend himself, and the two clasped hands, engaging in an impromptu strength contest. Megaman grunted and strained, trying to push Tomahawkman away, but the immense strength of the transformed Navi was slowly forcing him back down.

"Lan, it's no good... he's too strong..."

"Don't give up, Megaman!" Lan encouraged. "We'll figure something out!"

"Well, we better figure it out quick..." his Navi replied, as Tomahawkman continued to bear down. Megaman watched as his opponent's face finally transfigured itself, growing long and forming a wolflike snout. He opened his mouth wide, and a massive plume of fire issued forth, engulfing Megaman completely.

"No! Megaman!" Lan cried out, watching in horror. The audience watched as well, holding their breath, and even the announcer was silent for a moment. As Tomahawkman continued breathing fire, to everyone's amazement, he found himself being forced backward, his opponent somehow getting to his feet. He ceased blowing flame, surprised, and Lan gasped as his Navi became visible once again.

In the past few seconds, Megaman had undergone a mysterious transformation of his own. Instead of his normal blue color, his body was colored red-orange from head to toe. His muscles had grown significantly, increasing his strength, and there was armor on every part of his body, as opposed to just his hands and feet. His buster had transformed completely, changing from a simple gun to some sort of cannon, with what appeared to be fuel lines running across it.

"What... what happened?" Lan muttered, awestruck.

"Yes!" Back at SciLab, Dr. Hikari had cried out triumphantly, thrusting his fists into the air and causing a nearby aide to jump in surprise, as he watched the action unfold on the television. "I am a _genius!_ "

With an almighty yell, Megaman lifted Tomahawkman above his head and threw him across the arena, where he landed hard and skidded across the ground. Megaman looked down at himself, surprised by his strength, and jumped upon seeing what had happened.

"This is incredible! Megaman seems to have transformed as well!" the dutiful announcer related to the crowd. "I've never seen a match like this in all my life!"

Lan grinned wide, deciding to roll with whatever had just happened, feeling excited and optimistic. "Here's our chance! Take out Tomahawkman!"

Snapping out of his reverie, Megaman nodded and dashed forward; nothing much had happened for his speed, but he could feel an incredible strength running through his body. Tomahawkman stood up, angry at being tossed about, and turned back toward Megaman, his claws extended. They dashed at each other, Megaman reaching up to block the incoming claws with his arm; this time, it was Tomahawkman's weapon that shattered, as it collided with Megaman's frame. Lan's Navi followed up with a powerful punch to the face, knocking his enemy down to the ground. As Tomahawkman sat up, he had only one second to watch Megaman come down on top of him, piercing his body with the newly received Long Sword.

The crowd gasped as one as the yellow light disappeared from Tomahawkman's eyes, his body disappearing into the Cyberworld. Lan grinned, highly pleased with his Naiv's new strength, as Megaman turned himself toward the remaining two combatants. Protoman was still grappling with the Falzar-influenced Gale; her powerful wings were only adding to her wind abilities, and Megaman watched as she fired a series of razor-sharp feathers toward her foe.

"Agh!" Protoman fell backward, several feathers sticking painfully out of his body, as Gale moved in for the kill.

"No!" Megaman ran forward, charging up his buster and firing it in Gale's direction as soon as he got close enough. Both he and Lan were surprised to see that instead of an energy blast, a massive plume of flame issue forth from the cannon, one that engulfed Gale completely. She started running in a small circle, shrieking loudly as the flames burnt away at her feathers; her pain didn't last long, however, before Protoman bisected her cleanly with his Long Blade. Her two halves fell to the ground before dissolving away.

Megaman exhaled, relieved to see the two dangerous Navis finally eliminated. "You alright, Protoman?"

"I'll be fine," Protoman replied, plucking a feather from his frame as he looked over the newly-transformed Navi. "What the hell happened to you?"

Megaman looked down at his hands again, studying himself for a moment. "I don't know... nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I bet Lan's dad had something to do with it, though..."

"Amazing! Megaman's transformation has completely overpowered the other two transformed Navis! We have our champions!" The crowd cheered raucously, equally amazed at what had just taken place, as the announcer continued. "Lan Hikari and Eugene Chaud will represent Electopia at the world championships in Creamland! Let's give them a big hand, folks!"

Lan grinned, looking around at the cheering crowd, before his eyes came to rest on Lilly, who was looking rather upset. His expression quickly fell once again, as he stepped closer.

"Lilly, I'm sorry about Gale... we didn't have much choice..."

"No, it's alright." Lilly smiled a bit. "You did what you had to... who knows what she would have done in that monstrous state." She held up her PET, tapping it lightly. "Besides, I backed her up right before the match. We'll be battling again in no time."

Lan grinned again. "Glad to hear it. We'll have to battle again someday!"

He felt a hand clap on his shoulder, and turned around to see Dingo smirking at him. "You'll need to battle us again, too. That was one crazy match, wasn't it?" Lan nodded back at him, glad to see their spirits so high.

"The finalists from all over the world will be departing for Creamland one week from tomorrow," the announcer continued. "They'll receive e-mail alerts with more information the day before, so keep your eyes on your PETs, you two! And of course, we'll be holding an award ceremony tomorrow at City Hall, where the winners will be presented with their prizes!"

As the announcer thanked the crowd for attending, Lan jacked out and turned to the doors, as Chaud passed him by.

"Looks like I'll be seeing you in Creamland after all, Chaud," Lan said teasingly. "And you thought you were going to be rid of me."

Chaud smirked. "You're just lucky the two of us didn't have to fight. It'll be a different story at the world championships, trust me. Now if you'll excuse me, Protoman and I need to check out the Cyberworld, to see if the Cybeasts left any clues behind." He walked out the doors, heading off on his own, as Lan looked down toward his PET.

"How're you holding up, Megaman?" He took a more careful look over his Navi's frame, mystified and intrigued by his fire-based transformation.

"I'm extremely confused, but I'm fine," Megaman responded, running one hand over his arm, feeling the change in his musculature. "This has to be your dad's doing, don't you think?"

"No doubt about that." Lan walked through the doors to the competitor's lounge. "I'm going to head to SciLab now and ask him. He's probably still there. He can never get himself to leave when he wants to."

Megaman nodded. "That sounds like him. Alright, let's go!"

Lan put his PET back into its holster and started running, rather eager to hear more about what had just happened. As he stepped into the DenDome main lobby, however, he was suddenly assaulted by a pair of arms and a mess of red hair.

"Lan, that was amazing!" Mayl declared, hugging him tight. "Congratulations!"

"That was the best Netbattle I've ever seen!" Dex said as he appeared, clapping Lan on the shoulder as Mayl let him go.

"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you all were here to watch."

"What happened at the end, anyway?" Yai's voice piped up, as she stepped forward. "It was like Megaman was a whole new Navi!"

"I have no idea," Lan responded, as Mayl reached down and grabbed his PET to take a look at Megaman for herself. "I was just heading to SciLab now to ask my dad."

"Let's all go together! I'm curious now." Yai started walking off, and the group followed.

"And after that, we need to celebrate!" Dex declared. "You're one of the best Netbattlers in Electopia! We gotta go out and get some food or something!"

"Maybe another time, Dex. It's been kind of a day. I'm worn out."

"There'll be plenty of time to celebrate later," Mayl chimed in, looking away from Lan's PET. "We could do it next week, at my birthday party at Yai's."

"That'd be great!" Yai responded. "We'll throw a mega-party and invite everyone!"

All four of them grinned wide at the thought, as they stepped outside of DenDome, making their way toward SciLab.


	8. The Ballad of Lan and Mayl

"Well, we better figure it out quick..."

Megaman stared into the face of Tomahawkman as they grappled in a battle of strength. An instant later, Tomahawkman's face transformed into that of a wolf, and he breathed fire all over Megaman, engulfing him, as the crowd gasped.

"Right here, I thought Megaman was done for," Yai commentated from the couch. "Mayl practically screamed."

Lan, sitting nearby, turned his eyes to the floor, his face red from embarrassment. "I can't believe you taped this..."

Yai laughed. "Of course I did! Why wouldn't I?"

She, Lan, Mayl, Dex, and the rest of their homeroom class were seated in the enormous entertainment room of the Ayanokouji mansion, watching a recording of the battle royale match of the Red Sun Tournament with great interest. It was the weekend after the tournament, as well as Mayl's 12th birthday, and they were celebrating both Mayl's birthday and Lan's victory in a single large event as they had discussed before. For the sake of a few who had missed the match, they were rewatching it on Yai's rather large television; most of the children were scattered on the floor, while Lan, Mayl, Dex and Yai sat on the nearby couch, with Lan's overlarge trophy residing in the corner.

"Oh, this is the best part!" Dex declared, as everyone watched Megaman stand up, resisting Tomahawkman's strength, and the results of his fire-based transformation became visible. Everybody ooh'd and aah'd at this turn of events.

"What happened there, Lan? What did Megaman do?" a classmate asked.

"I didn't know at the time, so I went to SciLab and asked my dad," Lan replied, looking at his PET. "He called it..."

* * *

"...a Style Change. This is what Megaman's upgrade was really about."

The week prior, after the match, Lan and his friends were all in Dr. Hikari's office; as Lan suspected, he had been unable to get himself to leave, despite his injury. Megaman was watching from a nearby system and keeping his promise to Iris, who had seemed rather pleased that he had returned; it was hard to tell, though, as she still spoke softly and never smiled. Megaman had returned to his normal self, after Dr. Hikari did a little bit of tinkering with Lan's PET.

"A Style Change? What's that?"

Yuichiro rifled through some papers of his, eventually coming across a certain document with lots of technical words and drawings of Megaman. "It's a new ability of his, that allows him to change form. Depending on the situation, he could grow stronger, faster, what have you. On top of that, there may be additional changes, like elemental powers."

He turned on a screen nearby and typed away on a keyboard for a few seconds, and an image of Megaman appeared, in the new red-orange appearance he took on at the tournament; he and his friends studied it closely. "Megaman currently has HeatGuts style. It charges his attacks with fire, and increases his strength significantly. You can imagine how it came about: during the match, Megaman needed to be stronger, and he needed to be able to withstand fire, so HeatGuts it was."

"Wait, you mean he can automatically get upgraded with what he needs, on the fly?" Lan's eyes boggled at the thought.

"Well, sort of," Yuichiro replied. "Each style benefits only one facet of Megaman, such as his speed or his strength, and you can't change between them very quickly. Not only that, but you can only store up to four styles in your PET."

"Right..." Lan grinned. "Still, that's pretty awesome. Now I can make Megaman stronger when I need to, right? I can just turn on HeatGuts style?"

His father nodded. "You need to be careful, though. If Megaman were in HeatGuts style, and he was hit with a water or ice attack, he'd receive twice as much damage as normal. It's not without its share of problems, either, so use it with care."

"HeatGuts style..." Dex pondered. "Is that supposed to be 'Guts' like Gutsman, Mr. Hikari?"

Yuichiro shrugged and smiled. "I remember Lan here complaining a lot about a Gutsman, and it sounded good, so..."

Dex laughed triumphantly. "Yeeha! Hear that, Lan? My Gutsman is still the strongest Navi there is, if your dad's using it!"

"What are you talking about, Dex?" Yai jumped in. "Protoman kicked your butt into next week!"

The two started bickering as they usually, and everyone in the room snickered. Megaman smiled, as he watched from inside the SciLab computer, Iris sitting beside him.

"It must be nice to have friends like that..." Iris spoke softly.

"Iris... did you have any friends before Nebula found you?" Megaman asked; Iris looked down.

"I don't know..." she replied. "I don't know what having a friend is supposed to be like. I didn't know many people back then..."

"Maybe you could make some new friends now," he offered.

Iris looked up, watching Lan and his friends enjoy themselves. "Maybe..."

* * *

"A Style Change, huh? Never heard of anything like that!"

Lan stretched on the couch. "Well, my dad said it's new technology. Not many Navis could use it even if they had it programmed into them."

"Megaman could, though!" called out another classmate. "Megaman can do anything!" The room cheered, and Lan looked down again, before he became aware of the e-mail alert beeping from his PET. He took a quick look.

"Hey, it's from the INC!" he said aloud. The room went silent as everyone instantly quieted down in unison and turned to face him, wanting to hear about it.

"What's it say?!" Mayl wondered, leaning into Lan's shoulder so she could read his PET for herself.

"Hold on, hold on!" Lan called out. He tried to shove Mayl away, to no avail, before he began to read.

"'Lan, congratulations again on your victory in Electopia's Red Sun Tournament! As we have said before, your flight will be departing at 6:00 am tomorrow from Den International Airport. Your first-class tickets are attached to this email.'"

"First class!" Dex exclaimed. "I've never even been in business class before!" Lan grinned and continued.

"'Your first day in Creamland will be yours, to do with as you please. The next day, the finalists will be taken on a tour of Creamland's royal and historic landmarks, and will be addressed by Her Highness, Princess Pride.'"

"Princess Pride?!" someone else spoke up, incredulous. "That's not fair! You get to meet a princess?!"

Yai stuck out her tongue. "You already know a princess, me!" Mayl and Dex laughed, as Lan read on.

"'The final round of the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament will take place on the following day. The competitors from each half will battle it out until the winners are found, and the final round, between the winners of the Red Sun and Blue Moon tournaments, will be broadcast live on international television. Best of luck, and thank you once again for your participation!'"

The room broke into loud discussion, with various people talking about how lucky Lan was, or asking him to bring back Princess Pride's autograph, and other random things.

"Wait, did they say 6:00 am?" Yai wondered aloud, trying to grab at Lan's PET so she could read the e-mail.

"Yes! Stop grabbing!" Lan responded, holding the device above his head.

"But the airport is almost an hour and a half away! And don't you have to get there an hour before your flight?"

"Shoot... you're right." Lan did some quick math in his head, groaning at the result he came up with. "That means I'm going to have to leave at three in the morning or something like that..."

"That's only eight hours from now!" Dex declared, looking at the clock in his PET. "That's nothing!"

"Well, we're just going to have to get to partying right away, won't we?" Mayl grinned and reached across Lan's lap, trying to get her hands on the trophy. "Come on, I wanted some pictures with this thing, remember?"

"Hey! Be careful!" Lan tried to grab the trophy as well, with slightly more care, as Mayl laughed. The party continued on in this vein, with plenty of laughing and roughhousing, as well as a significant amount of birthday cake, late into the night.

* * *

Eight hours later, the partying had finally wound down, and children were sleeping on the floor and on furniture across several different rooms. The party section of the house was completely trashed, with bits of streamers and silly string decorating a number of surfaces, and discarded pizza and cake everywhere; nothing was broken, as most of the valuables had been evacuated from the area well before the party started. Lan's overlarge trophy remained undamaged in a corner of the room, as the children had treated it with the utmost reverence.

Lan had fallen asleep upside-down on one of the couches two hours prior, exhausted. While he had originally planned to get more sleep, he had been convinced by his classmates that he could sleep on the plane, as well as on the bus that would take him to the airport. He snored lightly as he slept, and it took Megaman a bit of work to get him to wake up on time.

"Lan, get up! You're going to miss your bus!" Lan shook himself awake, looking around at the mess the room had become as he lay upside-down, friends sleeping everywhere and pizza lying about.

"Ugh... this is probably what being a college student is like." He sat up slowly, rubbing his eye and standing up, realizing he had fallen asleep in his clothes and shrugging it off. He headed into another room, to collect the suitcase he had put aside, and he tossed some silly string off of it.

"The bus is supposed to be just waiting outside, right?" Lan asked.

"You called the bus company hours ago, remember? They should be arriving any second. They might be here by now."

"Well, we better not keep it waiting." He headed toward the entrance, stepping over food and bodies and tripping over Dex before he made it to the front door and stepped outside into the night. As Megaman had said, a travel bus was waiting right outside, at the end of the driveway, and he started sleepily walking toward the vehicle.

"Lan! Wait up!" He turned around to see Mayl waving at him, running over and wearing a red jacket. Like Lan, she looked exhausted, but was cheerful nevertheless.

"Mayl? What are you doing?" Lan wondered aloud, as she ran up to him.

"I'm coming with you so I can see you off at the airport! No one else is coming, after all." She zipped up her jacket, a bit cold.

"Really? How are you going to get back here?"

"I'm going to take the bus back, of course," she replied. "Yai said her family would pay for it and not to worry about it, so there."

Lan started to respond, but yawned instead, covering his mouth with his hand. "Alright, alright... come on, let's go." Mayl smiled as the pair walked through the door and stepped onto the bus, taking the first vacant seats. Lan put his bag aside and sat down, resting his head against the window as the bus started to pull away, heading back down Yai's driveway.

"Looks like it'll be a long, boring ride through Den City," Lan muttered. "A boring bus ride before a boring plane ride."

Mayl yawned, leaning back. "Well, at least you'll be able to get some sleep." Her head tilted off to the side. "Sleep sure sounds nice right now..."

Lan smirked as the bus left the driveway and got onto a nearby road. By the time the bus had reached its first stop, both of them had already drifted off.

* * *

Lan was awoken 45 minutes later, as the bus hit a bump in the road, causing him to smack his head against the window.

"Ow..." He rubbed his head, looking around, taking a second to remember where he was. Looking out the window, he could see that the bus was still driving through downtown Den City, and the airport was nowhere in sight. He sighed and watched the buildings go by for a moment, before becoming aware of a weight resting on him. Looking over, he found that Mayl was leaning against him as she slept lightly; her arms hung loosely around his neck, and her head was resting against the front of his shoulder as she slept.

Lan smiled and rubbed her head lightly. Gestures like this were not at all uncommon for her; she was a very affectionate young girl, especially toward him, and she also had minimal consideration for his personal space. He didn't mind, enjoying the closeness and the affection, comforted by her touch as she was by his. While there were no romantic intentions in either direction, they were much closer than two friends would normally be, having known each other essentially their entire lives. They were often seen together, alone or with other friends; physical contact was not taboo; and there was almost nothing the two of them couldn't discuss together. While they almost never spoke of their bond, they cared for each other deeply, and were well aware of it. Though they weren't in love, they loved each other nonetheless.

As he rubbed Mayl's head comfortingly, he became aware once again of the difference in their skin tones, seeing his hand next to her face. It was hard to tell without close inspection, but Mayl was a couple shades lighter than most people they knew. While Lan and Yai were both 100% Electopian, and Dex's parents both were born in Netopia, Mayl's father was a traveling businessman who hailed from the northern country of Ameroupe, and she was fluent in Ameroupic as well as Electopian. In fact, Lan was one of a handful of people who knew Mayl's birth name, Maylumai Sakurai-Sirelis, a mix of Ameroupic and Electopian; she generally declined to use her full name for a number of reasons. She had dropped the "Sirelis" part of her name several years back for all practical purposes, since she felt it made her name too cumbersome. "Mayl" was a nickname created by Lan in their infancy, and she had stuck by it not just because she liked it, but because "Maylumai Sakurai" rhymed, and she got rather annoyed whenever someone reminded her of this fact.

Lan grinned to himself, remembering one instance where he had teased Mayl about it until she began chasing him around the room, wielding a toy robot as a weapon. As he brushed back some of her hair, his smile faded as he inadvertently revealed a large, barely-visible scar on the side of her forehead, above her right eye. His mind instantly flashed back to three months ago, where he found himself holding Mayl's limp form in the wreckage of a destroyed cable car, as blood flowed from a large cut in her forehead.

He looked down toward his PET, where his Navi was resting himself, recharging and preparing for the battles ahead. Mere seconds before Gospel had attacked their cable car, Lan was wondering to himself why he had been given Megaman. Was he really supposed to just leave justice to the authorities, instead of taking matters into his own hands? As he rode to the world Netbattle championships, his best friend in the world sleeping by his side, he knew the answer to his question. He was going to use Megaman to protect the ones he cared about, no matter what Chaud, his father, or any other authority figure tried to tell him otherwise.

Lan rested his head back against the window and went back to sleep, knowing he still had a long ride ahead.

* * *

"Den International Airport!" the bus driver called out another 45 minutes later. Lan stirred and blinked, sitting up, as other riders started sleepily getting to their feet and grabbing their bags. Looking over, he saw that Mayl was still right where he had left her. He shook her lightly to try and rouse her.

"Hey, Mayl, we're here." She blinked and yawned, looking around, then down at the position she was in.

"Oh, sorry..." She sat up, her arms sliding off of his shoulder. "Must have shifted in my sleep or something..."

"What?" Lan stood up and grabbed his bag. "You mean you did that while you were sleeping?"

Mayl grinned, standing as well and shifting into the aisle. "I can't help it. You're like a big old teddy bear when you're asleep."

The two got themselves off the bus and headed into the departures lobby of the airport, where Lan got himself checked in, handing over his suitcase to the airline personnel. They quickly found his gate, and after a few minutes of walking, they came across a sign in their path: SECURITY CHECKPOINT. NO ENTRY WITHOUT TICKETS AND IDENTIFICATION.

"Looks like this is it," Lan muttered, looking down and checking to ensure his PET was still with him, which it was. "Thanks for coming along. I'll let you know when I get there."

"Lan, wait." He turned around to face Mayl, who had adopted a rather worried look. "I just... I'm really worried about this trip. So many bad things have been happening lately, and... what if something happens while you're there, and we can't help you?"

He sighed. "I'll be fine, Mayl. Nothing's going to happen."

"How do you know that, Lan?"

"Just trust me," he replied unhelpfully, wanting to assuage her fears but too tired to come up with a good rationale for it. "Everything will be fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"Lan, just..." She groaned, not wanting to have a ridiculous argument at this time of night, and she thrust her hand into her jacket pocket. "Just take this, alright?" She pulled out a pewter pendant the length of her index finger, carved into the shape of a diamond and painted sky blue, and handed it to him.

"What's this?" he inquired, holding it up and taking a closer look.

"It's supposed to be for good luck," Mayl answered. "I got it yesterday, before the party started."

Lan grinned. "You were buying me stuff on your birthday? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

"I don't need anything from you, Lan. We talked about this already." She stepped closer to him. "If you come back safe from Creamland, that's a good enough gift for me."

"You're such a worrywart, Mayl." He dropped the pendant into his vest pocket. "There, I'll keep it on me, I promise. Everything's going to be just fine."

"I hope so." She stepped closer and wrapped her arms tightly around him; he embraced her gently as well, and they held each other for a few moments. As her grip loosened, he felt her lips pressing against his cheek before she stepped back.

"Good luck, Lan," she offered. "Do your best and come back safe, okay?"

Lan nodded. "I will, don't worry. Make sure everyone cheers for me back home!"

Mayl smiled and nodded back.


	9. In-Flight Entertainment

Lan finally made his way to his departure gate, after being stopped for a rigorous security check; a random boy traveling alone to another country rose a couple of red flags, especially when he had a first-class ticket. After a bit of investigating, and an early-morning call to a very agitated Dr. Hikari, the security officials were finally convinced he was not a threat, and he was even allowed to keep his PET.

He sat down in the first open seat he saw, setting his bag next to him, and checked the time on his PET, grimacing at how early it was. His flight was supposed to leave in thirty minutes, so they were bound to start boarding anytime. Looking around, he saw a fair amount of other travelers waiting at the same gate; some were foreign, some were Electopian, some were business, some were families, and all of them were tired. As he sat back, he caught a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. Chaud was walking away from a coffee stand and back toward the gate, sipping at a hot beverage.

Lan smirked as he walked by. "You're a bit young to be drinking coffee, aren't you?"

"I don't sleep well," the Official replied simply, sitting across the way.

Lan rubbed his eye, suppressing a yawn. "Why don't you just sleep on the flight? It's going to be a long one. Might as well try."

"I'm the ONB. I can't just fall asleep, I need to stay alert." Chaud took another sip. "Besides, it doesn't look like we can rely on you to stay awake. You were probably up all night partying or something, weren't you?"

"I was not!" Lan lied, indignant. Chaud smirked in response.

"Whatever. Have yourself a nice nap if you want, but I'm going to keep awake. Just remember, we're losing hours since we're traveling east, so you're going to be up all night again. Good luck battling when you're jet-lagged like that."

"Er..." Lan hadn't thought of that.

"Attention everybody at gate B5. We will now begin pre-boarding our flight. We would like to invite our first-class passengers to please line up to board." A female voice rang out over the intercom, and several people stood up and moved toward the gate, including Chaud. Yawning, Lan stood up and grabbed his bag, walking toward the departure door and lining up with everyone else.

* * *

Three hours later, the flight had taken off and was moving smoothly through the air toward Creamland. Chaud sat at the front of the first class section, toying with his PET while keeping his eye out for trouble. A few rows back, Lan was snoozing, head tilted and mouth open. He had bought some gum to chew during takeoff, to keep his ears from popping, and during his nap it had rolled out of his mouth and into his hair. Behind him, somebody's watch alarm went off, and he started awake, blinking and sitting up.

He rubbed his eye and looked out the window, seeing nothing below but a large patch of farmland. It didn't look like they were in Creamland yet, but then again, he didn't know what Creamland was supposed to look like. He had done a little bit of research a couple days ago, wanting to know something about the nation he was traveling to. Creamland was a comparatively small country immediately to Electopia's east, and a fraction of its size. It was a minor world power that boasted an economy based mainly on Net development and commerce, and was too small to have its own army. It had formed a pact with Electopia, wherein the larger country would come to Creamland's defense if necessary, in exchange for access to Creamland's Net research and technology. Its government was a constitutional monarchy, presided over by Princess Angelica Pride; she had been forced to take the throne a year ago at age 12, when a smallpox epidemic took the lives of her parents along with a small portion of the population, but she governed well, aided by the parliament and a group of close advisors.

"What time is it..." He reached for his PET and looked into it. "Megaman, time?"

"It's nine... fifteen..." His Navi snickered. "Lan, were you chewing gum earlier?"

"What? Yeah... why do you..." Lan's hand immediately went to his hair, feeling the wad of gum. "Oh, for Pete's sake..."

Megaman laughed. "You should do something about that before you meet the Princess, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Lan stood up, walking toward the bathroom closer to him, groaning when he saw it was occupied. He instead turned around and walked down the aisle toward the end of the plane, entering the vacant bathroom and shutting the door. He inspected the wad of gum and sighed, wondering how he was going to get it out.

Back at his seat, Chaud's meager focus was interrupted as he became aware of some people whispering nearby. Looking backwards, he noticed a young couple at the front of the coach section, looking and pointing at him as they whispered excitedly; upon noticing they were being watched, they quickly quieted down and looked away. He sighed and turned back to his PET, fiddling with it until a voice caught his attention a few seconds later.

"Um... excuse me..." Chaud turned his eye to the aisle, to see that the young woman had walked up to him; she was standing in a way that was making her look rather small, and he could see her long brown hair without even looking up toward her face. "Are you... Eugene Chaud?"

"That's me," he replied, looking back at his PET.

"The champion Netbattler from the Red Sun Tournament?" She sounded rather nervous, as though she were meeting a movie star. He nodded without looking up, grunting affirmatively.

The woman grinned, standing up fully. "Perfect." Chaud raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant, when he suddenly felt a cold, steel barrel being pressed against the side of his head. "Hand over your PET, right now."

Several others on the plane shrieked and quickly got out of their seats, trying to run away, when the girl's companion stood up and pulled out a gun of his own, bellowing orders to the other passengers. "Stay where you are, all of you! Anyone who tries to leave their seat is going to regret it!" More screams erupted, but quickly quieted down out of fear, as everyone either huddled together with their loved ones or moved toward the windows, not wanting to be too close.

Chaud kept looking downward, his demeanor the same as always, as if nothing was happening. "How did you get those past security?"

"Less talking and more handing over, pal. You're not in a position to negotiate, here."

Without another word, Chaud handed over his PET, as the girl grinned. "Much better." She turned to her companion and beckoned him forward. "Alright, into the cockpit. Get on the radio and tell them what we want." The man nodded, heading forward into the cockpit and demanding the door be opened, which it quickly was.

The girl smirked, looking back toward the other end of the plane to ensure there were no other dangers. She blinked and took a closer look, thinking she had seen something near the bathroom, but everything looked normal. She shrugged and turned back toward an annoyingly nonchalant Chaud, making sure he didn't try anything.

Back in the bathroom, Lan was flattening himself against the wall, breathing hard; his exhaustion was gone, immediately replaced with nerves and adrenaline, and he had managed to painfully remove the chewing gum from his hair. "I don't think she saw me looking... I hope not, anyway..."

"Lan! Who didn't see you? What was with the screaming?" Megaman inquired from his belt.

"Plane's been hijacked." He rubbed his head, trying to think. "Two of them, one boy, one girl... both of them have guns. One of them took Chaud's PET, it looks like..."

"Holy... what do they want? What do we do?"

"I don't know, and... I don't know," Lan responded. "We have to disarm them somehow, but how are we going to do that?"

He carefully opened the door the tiniest bit, taking a peek. The male hijacker had entered the cockpit and shut the door tight behind him, while the girl stood watch over Chaud, holding a gun in one hand and the stolen PET in the other. He quickly and quietly closed the door again.

"One of them went into the cockpit, but the other one's still there, and she's still got a gun on her." Lan took a deep breath, trying to think.

"Maybe if we distract her..." Megaman mused. "You could jack me into the plane and I could mess with something, then... I don't know, what can we do then?"

"We... we could..." Lan looked around the bathroom for a second, as if he might find an Emergency Disarming Kit. Instead, his eyes settled on the bottle of sanitizer, and he reached out and grabbed it, removing the pump on top of it. "We blind her with this, then we get the gun away from her."

His Navi nodded. "That could work. It's dangerous, but it's not like we have many better options."

"Right... okay, I'm going to jack you in and..." He looked around again, groaning when he realized there was a hole in his plan. "Damn it, there are no jack-in spots in here. If I leave and they see me, we're screwed."

"Why not use the wireless?" Megaman offered. "It's not like you're going to need to operate me, so it should be okay."

"Yeah, good idea." Lan reached into his pocket, pulling out the antenna and plugging it into his PET. He then pulled out several Battlechips and slotted them in, one after the other: a Long Sword, an Energy Bomb, and an Area Steal.

"You can use those if you run into any problems." He turned on the wireless and found a single available jack-in point, near the front of the plane. "Be careful out there."

"You too, Lan," his Navi replied, before jumping into the airplane's network.

* * *

Upon arriving in the plane's Cyberworld, Megaman took a look around; in the cockpit, he could see numerous programs scuttling about busily, but no signs of damage or foul play could be found. He quickly left the cockpit and headed into the area for coach class, wondering what he could do to get the girl's attention.

"Lan, I can't see the real world from here. What is that girl up to?"

"One second..." Lan reached over to the door and opened it just a tiny crack, looking at the hallway by using the reflection in his PET's screen. The girl was wandering about the cabin, keeping an eye out for trouble, continually looking back at Chaud to make sure he was staying in place.

"She's wandering the hallways, it looks like. How are you going to get her attention?"

"Something small, I think... we need to get her curious, not make her panic." Megaman ran along, looking at various programs, until something near the back of the Cyberworld caught his eye.

Back in the cabin, the female hijacker was walking backward down the hallway, looking at Chaud continually with a frequency that bordered on paranoia. After a few seconds of this, she took a deep breath, reassuring herself that he would be no trouble and remembering where his PET was. Feeling a little more confident, she turned around to face the back of the plane and did a double take; in the very back row, there was a light that was curiously flashing on and off, at a regular interval of about once per second.

"What the heck...?" She slowly walked toward the back of the plane, taking her gun out of her pocket and turning the safety off. Nobody was in that seat, touching the button or anything like that, but the light was flickering with a very precise rhythm. This couldn't be just a malfunction.

Megaman watched through Lan's PET screen as the girl inched closer and closer, staring at the light, and at the seat nearby. He took a deep breath and crossed his fingers. Soon she would be in a good position for Lan to blind her; he hoped that Lan knew how to do that effectively, since they would only get one shot at this.

As the girl walked toward the rear of the cabin, something else entirely caught her attention. She looked over at the bathroom door, which was open the tiniest bit, and thought she saw something inside. Inching closer and taking a better look, she saw the tiniest sliver of a blue PET, which someone's fingers were wrapped around. She smirked, immediately putting the pieces together, and started moving quietly, but a bit more quickly, toward Lan's location.

Megaman's eyes widened in horror, as he saw the girl change her direction ever so slightly. "Lan, she can see you!" he whispered. Lan quickly drew back and out of sight, suddenly panicked, as Megaman racked his brain, knowing what was about to happen. He looked around the Cyberworld, needing a plan and not having much time.

The girl grinned as she saw the PET withdraw from sight, certain now that its owner was the source of the distraction. She walked up to the slightly ajar door and grasped the side lightly, prepared to wrench it open.

"I don't know what you're planning, whoever you are, but it's over now," she muttered.

_Bang!_ She jumped and quickly turned around as a loud sound went off behind her; she reflexively fired her pistol, causing a number of passengers to scream, and the bullet buried itself in the seat in front of her. She took a second to process what had just happened, seeing two oxygen masks dangling down, connecting them to the loud sound that had startled her. Just as she was regaining her bearings, the bathroom door slammed open, pushing her forward, as Lan charged into her with every ounce of force he could muster. She tripped over the single seat in front of her and smashed her head against the window, dropping both objects in her hand.

As she quickly turned herself around, she was greeted with an entire bottle's worth of hand sanitizer directly into her face, soaking her eyes. She screamed in pain, covering her burning eyes with her hands and trying to wipe the liquid away, as Lan reached down and grabbed Chaud's red PET, kicking the gun into the bathroom at the same time. Hearing the commotion, Chaud had quickly stood up and was standing in the aisle, as many passengers turned around and looked on.

"What the hell's going on back there?!" he demanded.

"Chaud, catch!" Lan wound up and flung Chaud's PET as hard as he could down the aisle, sliding it along the floor, ignoring a sharp pain in his shoulder as he did so. Chaud reached out and grabbed it as it skidded up to him, just as the cockpit door opened and the other hijacker ran out.

"I heard a shot! What-" was all he managed to get out, before Chaud whirled around and slammed the taser end of his PET into the man's chest. His body convulsed for a couple seconds before he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

"Yes!" Lan cried out, followed shortly by "Agh!" as he received a strong blow to the back of his neck. He fell forward, in a fair amount of pain, as the girl growled down at him, squinting through the pain and the tears. She raised her foot to stomp on him, wanting to inflict as much pain on him as he had on her.

"Freeze!" She looked down the aisle to see Chaud staring her way, holding his PET in one hand, the other pointing the man's pistol at the girl. "Hands in the air, now!"

The girl glared at him for a second, cursing under her breath, before she reluctantly raised her hands. He quickly walked forward, producing a set of four cuffs from somewhere on his belt and handing them to Lan, keeping the gun trained on the girl.

"Get her arms behind her back and cuff them to her ankles," he commanded. Lan nodded, grabbing her wrists and pulling them downward, being far less than gentle as he applied the handcuffs.

"I don't know what you two wanted here, but this hijacking is over," Chaud continued, lowering the gun now that she was somewhat secured.

The girl let out a derisive laugh. "You think it's that easy, do you, you little brat?"

"Hm?" Chaud raised an eyebrow, as Lan stood up. "What are you talking about?"

"The two of us, we were just a means to an end," she explained, looking as confident and menacing as she could while squinting. "The real threat is already aboard this plane, in its Cyberworld, and this vessel is still under our complete control. Nebula doesn't like to take chances."

"Nebula?!" Lan exclaimed, instantly worried once again. He quickly looked around for his PET and grabbed it, as Chaud kept his eye on the hijacker. "Megaman, be careful! There's something else in there with you!" He stood up and ran toward the cockpit.

"Don't bother jacking in!" the girl taunted, causing Lan to come screeching to a halt and turn back toward her. "There's only one port on this whole plane, and my partner's destroyed it! Your meddlesome Navi's all on his lonesome in there!" She turned her attention back toward Chaud, smirking. "If you want these passengers to stay alive, you'll take me back up there and let us keep making our demands."

Her captor smirked. "No chance, lady. I don't know who you think Lan is, but I guarantee he's faced far worse than whatever you've got."

Lan paused for a second, not used to hearing words of praise from Chaud, before glancing back down at his PET, where Megaman was looking around for any signs of trouble. A moment later, a large, circular projectile flew toward him, which he barely managed to dodge. Looking back at it, it seemed to be a giant shuriken.

"Who's there?!" he called out, looking around quickly.

"Nice move," a voice responded. A tall Navi suddenly appeared in front of him, dressed in full ninja garb, wielding a number of kunai and shurikens. "I can see why you've been giving this Nebula group trouble."

"Who are you? Aren't you with Nebula?" Megaman demanded, getting into an attack position and wondering how to make the best use of the three Battlechips he had.

"My name is Shadowman," the ninja Navi replied. "A mercenary for hire. Nebula is offering me a very large sum of money if I can keep this plane under their control. Seems like somebody doesn't want you to make it to Creamland."

He drew a kunai knife from his belt. "Though, to be honest, a battle with one of Electopia's best Navis would also suffice for me. I live for greater and greater challenges, and defeating you will be a feather in my cap."

Megaman glared, forming a Long Sword. "I'm glad you're enjoying this so much, pal." He dashed forward and sliced at his, who backed off in the blink of an eye. Shadowman quickly produced and threw a number of kunai in Megaman's directiion, which he quickly deflected with his sword.

"Fool! Never stand still!" Shadowman dashed forward with great speed, wielding a long, thin blade and swiping at his enemy. Looking back a second later, he found that Megaman had vanished, and only an Energy Bomb remained in his place; he barely had time to shield himself before it exploded, doing a minor amount of damage. As the blast cleared, he stood still, dusting himself off, listening carefully to the Cyberworld around him. Three seconds later, he quickly turned around and deflected an attack from Megaman's blade.

"Impressive," Shadowman commented. "But let's see you try and dodge this!" He leaped into the air and waved his arms, spreading a mysterious powder. Instantly, grass sprouted up all around Megaman's feet in response.

"What the...?" Megaman looked down toward his feet, taking a suspicious step back, only to find more grass behind him, surrounding him completely. Looking up, he saw Shadowman throw a piece of paper on the ground; a moment later, it combusted, and the grassy area surrounding him instantly went up in flames.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out, as the fire raged briefly but powerful around his Navi. It quickly burnt itself out, leaving a singed Megaman standing in the center on weak legs, covering himself with his arms.

"Ow... that stings..." He lowered his arms and looked back toward his opponent, who was running quickly at him, blade outstretched. Megaman quickly moved his Long Sword into position to defend, as Shadowman swung; as the two swords made contact, Megaman's heated blade bent slightly, then snapped and shattered, unable to handle the pressure.

"Gah!" Megaman quickly backed off as his blade vanished, not at all liking how this battle was turning out. Lan gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he watched, realizing that Megaman had already run out of Battlechips. With only a basic weapon at his side, this was going to be an extremely tough fight.

Megaman quickly generated his Mega Buster and started firing shot after shot; Shadowman dodged each one with ease, getting closer with every step. After one such blast, Shadowman appeared right in front of his opponent, kicking him square in the jaw and sending him flying back.

"You're relying on your pea shooter? Please tell me you're not out of tricks already." He jumped in the air again, waving his arms and spreading grass powder throughout a huge portion of the Cyberworld around Megaman, who slowly stood up and looked around, not sure how he was going to escape.

"I suppose the satisfaction of payment will have to suffice for me, this time." He held up another paper bomb between his index and middle fingers. "So long, Megaman." He flung the paper at the ground, and a giant portion of the Cyberworld went up in flames, as a distraught Lan watched helplessly. When the flames subsided, however, Megaman was nowhere to be found.

"What?!" Shadowman and Lan exclaimed at the same time. A second later, Shadowman received a sharp blow to the back of his neck, sending him down to the ground. Lan looked toward Shadowman's assailant, and did a double take. Megaman was floating in the air, starting to fall back down, but his appearance had completely changed. His armor had turned a much lighter shade of blue, and a sort of pack rested on his back, with four long cylinders pointing out of it.

"What happened?" Lan wondered aloud. "Could this be another Style Change?" He watched with rapt attention, eyes widening in shock as Megaman formed two more Energy Bombs in his hands.

"Hyaah!" Megaman began hurling grenade after grenade in his enemy's direction, having a seemingly endless supply. Lan boggled at the sight, as the equally bewildered Shadowman was hit by a number of explosions as he fell. He landed on the ground shortly thereafter, dashing away to avoid more blasts and looking for Megaman. Lan's Navi quickly disappeared from the air and landed on the ground below, then vanished again to reappear in front of Shadowman, his Long Sword mysteriously restored. The mercenary quickly drew his sword and swung at his foe, only to see him vanish again. He turned around, sensing Megaman behind him, but was unable to dodge the entirety of the sword attack, which left a deep wound on his side.

"Gah!" Shadowman jumped back, holding his side, as he took a good look at Megaman's new form. "So... you've transformed again, you trickster." He stood up fully, brandishing his sword. "This is the battle I was looking for... time to take it to the next level."

"Stop right there!" Both looked up as a third Navi jumped into the arena, and both Megaman and Shadowman raised eyebrows in recognition at the tall, black-armored Navi.

"Wait... it's you!" Megaman called out. "You're the one who saved me from those Nebula Navis!"

Shadowman furrowed his eyebrows. "Colonel... what are you doing here?"

"My job," the tall Navi replied. "I can't have Nebula interfering however they like with things, especially when the Cybeasts are in their grasp."

"Hmph... I can't win like this." Shadowman threw something at the ground, which exploded in a massive cloud of smoke. Megaman and Colonel quickly dashed through it, trying to clear it out, only to see Shadowman standing back near the cockpit.

"We'll have to finish this another time, Megaman." He took a step back onto the cockpit terminal, turning into a beam of light and flying upward, leaving the Cyberworld entirely.

"What?" Megaman ran forward. "Where did he go?"

"He left," Colonel commented, lowering his blade. "In the same manner I got here, by communicating with the nearest air traffic control tower."

"Damn... oh well..."

Back in the cabin, Chaud was watching the action through Lan's PET. "Colonel... I thought he'd be showing up sooner or later."

"What?! Colonel?!" the female hijacker cried out, recognizing the name, as Chaud smirked.

"Looks like it's all over for the two of you," he commented. He walked over to the cockpit to inform the pilot, leaving the girl handcuffed by the wrists and ankles.

Megaman turned back toward his new companion, his sword disappearing. "Thanks for that. Looks like I owe you another one." He was able to get a better look at the Navi for the first time, taking in his large build, strong jaw, and strange purple eyes.

"You seemed to have the situation under control," Colonel responded. "That was an impressive transformation. What was that?"

"It's a Style Change of some kind, but I'm not sure which." Megaman looked down at himself. "I'll have to ask Dr. Hikari once the plane lands."

"Seems like I wasn't needed after all, then." Colonel walked back toward the cockpit, ready to depart.

"I guess not... still, thanks." He smirked a little. "Heh, at least they didn't bring the two Cybeasts on board, then we'd be in real trouble."

Colonel raised an eyebrow and turned around, somewhat disturbed by the comment. "What?"

Megaman faltered. "Er... you know, the two Cybeasts... the wolf and the falcon, aren't you supposed to know about them? You're..."

"No, not that." Colonel grew more visibly concerned. "You said two Cybeasts, but there aren't two. There are three."

Megaman blinked. "Wait, what? Three?"

Colonel rubbed his forehead, irritated. "I don't believe this... you're telling me SciLab only knows of two of the Cybeasts?"

"Wait, back up." Megaman held out his hands. "SciLab only ever had two Cybeasts imprisoned, how could there be a third?"

Colonel grumbled, the weight of this inconvenient revelation crashing over him as he started to explain. "There are three Cybeasts, and I've seen every one with my own eyes. Gregar the wolf, Falzar the falcon, and Servir the serpent."

"The serpent?" Megaman wondered aloud. "I never saw a Cybeast like that. We just saw Gregar and Falzar." He tried to picture this mysterious third Cybeast in his head.

"Fifteen years ago, when SciLab informed me they had captured the Cybeasts, I presumed they had found all three. If what you're saying is true, though, then it seems Servir has eluded them all this time. Who knows what sort of trouble that monster is causing..."

Colonel walked toward the cockpit again. "Looks like I've got some work to do, tracking down a lost Cybeast. I suggest you tell those morons at SciLab about this as soon as possible." Colonel walked into the transmitter that connected them to the ground and vanished, as Megaman turned back toward Lan, looking upward into the screen as it appeared in front of him.

"Lan! Were you watching all that?"

"Yeah, I was. Three Cybeasts? And that Style Change..." Lan pressed a few buttons on his PET, and Megaman returned to it via the wireless antenna. "This is getting confusing all over again. We need to call Dad as soon as we land and tell him about all this."

"What's going on? What do you mean, three Cybeasts?!" Chaud demanded, walking back from the cockpit. Lan began to explain, as the flight continued on toward the championships in Creamland.


	10. The Pride of Creamland

"AquaCustom Style, huh?"

Lan was lying on a large, comfortable bed in a luxurious hotel room, having arrived in Creamland an hour before. He was conversing with his father through the phone function in his PET, recounting the events of the morning.

"From the way you describe it, that's what it sounds like," Yuichiro replied. "A Custom Style allows you to use the same Battlechip up to ten times when you slot it in."

"Wow, seriously?" Lan's eyes widened. "That sounds awesome!"

His father nodded. "It can be pretty useful, no doubt. However, it comes at a cost. Megaman's speed and strength drop a bit when you change to AquaCustom Style. It's a strategic option, not an all-powerful one."

Lan nodded. "Makes sense Time and place for everything, huh..."

"So then Colonel arrived and told you of this third Cybeast?"

"Uh huh." He nodded again. "Servir, the serpent... you've never heard of him before?"

"No, not once." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead. "I don't have any idea what Colonel is talking about. We never saw more than two Cybeasts. Either he's lying, or this other Cybeast is extremely adept at hiding, and that doesn't make much sense given the other two."

"Colonel said he saw the third Cybeast with his own eyes," Megaman chimed in. "Maybe I should have asked what he looked like. Aside from, you know, a serpent."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much, in the big scheme of things," Yuichiro responded. "If Colonel is telling the truth, then he's going to go after it and let us know where it is, I assume. If Colonel is lying, then... well, nothing's changed, except we stop trusting Colonel."

Lan frowned, the situation still a bit confusing for him, as his father continued. "Anyway, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it too much. That's my job. You and Megaman have got other things to worry about, like that tournament."

Lan grinned. "It's still a couple days before the tournament actually starts. You're going to be watching, right?"

"You know it. Your mother and I are very proud of you both, you know." His father smiled. "Speaking of which, you should give her a call, she's probably worried. You may want to leave out the parts about the hijacking, though."

Lan agreed, saying his goodbyes and hanging up. He lay back on the bed for a minute, arms outstretched, taking in the events of the day. He looked over at the bedside clock; it was 1:30 pm. He still had most of the day ahead of him, with no obligations that he could think of. His hotel was located in the middle of downtown Blancopolis, the capital of Creamland, and he figured he could explore for a little while. Maybe he'd buy some souvenirs for his friends and family; he'd seen some pretty quirky things in shop windows on the bus ride to his hotel.

He yawned, fatigued, and grabbed his PET again, planning to call his mother, and maybe Mayl, before taking a short nap.

* * *

Two days later, his hotel room was a mess. His bed was unmade, some of his clothes were thrown onto a nearby chair, two bags of souvenirs sat lazily on the bedside table, and there was an empty pizza box on the floor. Lan, however, was nowhere to be found inside it.

At 9:00 am that day, Lan had traveled to the site of the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament, Creamland Castle. He was greeted at the door by a wave of reporters and journalists, smothering him and demanding to know about one of the greatest Netbattlers in the world; he had been forced to duck and run, as if trying to avoid a swarm of bees. Upon entering the castle, a tournament official had led him into the spacious competitors' lounge, where he had time to relax before the tournament began.

"Geez, it's like a circus out there," Lan commented. "This is even bigger than I thought..."

"You're not getting nervous, are you, Lan?" Megaman wondered.

"No way!" Lan replied reflexively, before pausing and reassessing. "Well... maybe a little, but it's no problem. We can still do just fine!"

"Fat chance," came a voice to Lan's left. Lan looked over to see Chaud leaning against the wall, as nonchalant as ever, pointing to a screen across the room. "Take a look."

Lan walked over, finding that the tournament pairings had already been posted on it. He ran his finger along the bottom row, looking at the first round pairings, and it didn't take long to see what Chaud was talking about.

"Match #4, Lan Hikari vs. Eugene Chaud," he repeated out loud.

"You won't escape our battle this time," Chaud commented. "You couldn't defeat Protoman before and you won't now. Enjoy your time in the spotlight while it lasts."

Lan stuck his tongue out at the other boy, an action that betrayed his confidence. "We'll see who beats who, pal!"

"Lan, calm down," Megaman urged. "We can't win if we're not focused. Don't let him get to you."

Lan took a deep breath and nodded, as Chaud chuckled. "Right... okay, I'm good." He glanced back, smirking a bit. "Besides, I've faced far worse than whatever they've got... or at least, that's what some people say."

"Hmph. Don't let what I said get to you," Chaud replied. "You're good, there's no doubt about that. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. I'm just better."

"Yeah, we'll see." Lan turned away, irritated by the smug reply, and looked around at the others who were here; there were about twelve competitors here already, out of fifteen. They were of all races, genders and sizes, but as far as Lan could tell, everyone here was older than he was. He stretched his arms, not thinking too much of it; such facts hadn't deterred him before, and they certainly wouldn't now. He took a look through a nearby door, finding the large room where they would be competing. He had entered that room the day before, when the Netbattlers had congregated for their tour of Creamland's historic sites.

* * *

All of the participants gathered around a long, rectangular Cyber arena where the battles would be held, which looked like it had been installed recently. The arena was surrounded by a number of large, white chairs with wires running all along them, each one with a strange helmet attached to it, almost like a hair dryer at a salon. Lan wondered what these were meant for, but didn't have the time to ask.

As the Netbattlers had looked around, musing to themselves, their attention was suddenly drawn upward to a balcony overlooking the room. A young woman, slightly older than Lan's age, stepped through the door and onto the balcony. She wore a long, regal, white dress, and a spectacular tiara sat atop a head of long, wavy, blonde hair. Lan realized that this must be Princess Pride; while he had read about her, he had never seen her picture, and was surprised to find she was rather beautiful. He felt his cheeks redden.

"Thank you all for coming," she began. "Creamland is honored to be host to such a prestigious event, and to have such great Netbattlers in our midst. It is my hope that this event will help foster cooperation between the various nations of the world, and that..."

She cut herself off, staring at one of the lower entrances to the room. Everyone turned around, following her gaze, to see that another man had entered the room. Lan realized he'd seen him with the other contestants, as the sole representative of Sharo, but wondered why he'd walked in late.

"Forgive me, your Majesty." He bowed deeply. "I must regretfully take my leave. My country has met with a minor crisis, and I must return home immediately in order to see to it." The other Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves.

"Er..." Princess Pride blinked, surprised, but quickly regained her composure. "Yes, of course." She gave a light curtsy. "I wish you the best of luck. Thank you again for being here." The man bowed again and turned to leave, as the others watched him go.

"Nonetheless, we thank you again for being in attendance," she continued. "I wish you all the best of luck in tomorrow's tournament, and hope that you enjoy your tour around our capitol." The other Netbattlers had bowed as the princess took her leave, and soon after, they were loaded onto a bus for their tour.

* * *

Lan thought back to that day, wondering again about the departing Netbattler. He'd looked into it after the fact, discovering that Sharo's capitol Net City had been suddenly destroyed, as if something had wiped it clean off the map. The news had been downplayed in favor of pre-tournament coverage, however, so information on it was hard to find. Chaud had quickly shrugged it off as one less Netbattle to fight, and while Lan wasn't as quick to be so callous, he eventually put it out of his mind as well.

He took another look around the room, thinking nervously about the monumental task ahead of him. All of his competitors were as focused as he was, if not more so, and he knew he'd have a tough time becoming the world's greatest Netbattler. He couldn't help but think back to the strange events of the Electopian tournament that had led him here, and doubts started to creep into his mind, as he wondered if he even deserved to be here.

A short while later, a thirty-something man in a Creamland Official Netbattler uniform walked in and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but we would like for you to gather in the tournament hall immediately. The tournament will be beginning shortly."

Lan stood up and stretched, as the members of the room started moving toward the door. He took a deep breath, highly focused and somewhat nervous. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

"You bet!" Megaman responded eagerly. "Let's go!"

Lan smiled as he walked into the tournament hall, following the directions of the Officials to find his specific spot around the arena. He looked around the room, to see a number of video cameras had been set up; some were trained on the arena, while others were clearly meant to catch the faces of the Netbattlers. He swallowed, having forgotten about the live broadcast.

"You're not getting cold feet, are you?" The female Netbattler next to him winked, and Lan smirked back at her, trying to project confidence.

"No way! Me and Megaman are ready to win!"

"You'll have a tough time beating me!" another Netbattler chimed in from further down the table.

"Ha! None of you are even going to be a challenge!" yet another added. Lan started to reply, when he heard another voice echoing through the room.

"Well, I'm glad to see all of you are so eager." Everyone looked up, as the voice of an older man rang out. "If you're not the best Netbattlers in the world, you're certainly the most arrogant."

The Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves, wondering who was speaking. Lan and Chaud steeled themselves.

"I know that voice..." Chaud muttered.

"Me too... but who..." Lan looked around, intensely curious and on his guard, when everyone was alerted to the sound of footsteps. For the second time in as many days, everyone in the room looked upward toward the balcony, to see who was walking out. Unlike yesterday, however, the tall figure who walked into the room was not Princess Pride.

"Regal!" Lan and Chaud cried out at once.

From atop the balcony, Dr. Regal smirked, eyes focusing down on the two Electopian battlers. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you two brats made it here..." His eyes started sweeping the room, taking in the other competitors as he leaned against the balcony railing. "For everyone who doesn't know me, allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Lucius Regal, and I am the leader of the Electopian faction of Nebula."

"Nebula?!" The cry was simultaneous about the room, and various Netbattlers took steps either forward or back.

"What are you doing here?!" the Yumland representative cried out. "What does Nebula have to do with this tournament?!"

Regal smirked. "Sorry to disappoint, but your tournament has been cancelled. It's being pre-empted by a much more important event: the moment where Nebula holds the government of Creamland for ransom."

Everyone in the room gasped and started shouting at Dr. Regal, who silenced the partially angry, partially curious bunch by holding up his hand. "This castle was placed under siege twenty minutes ago by its own defense system, and the government's Mother Computer is being raided and controlled as we speak. This nation's reliance on Net technology and defense has made it a pathetically easy target for our capable organization, especially with the Cybeasts in our employ."

He chuckled lightly. "As for your precious Princess Pride... we'll say she's been deposed. She's still alive, and so long as our demands are met, she'll stay that way. If anyone tries to go and save her, they will regret it dearly."

"You monster!" the Creamland Netbattler yelled up at him. "Nebula will never get away with this!"

"That's right!" another shouted. "You really think the world is going to bow to you terrorists and give you what you want?!"

"I'm fairly certain they can be persuaded," Regal replied. "If the princess and their Mother Computer won't convince the governments of the world, I'm sure the other hostages will."

Chaud's eyes narrowed, not liking where this was going. "What other hostages...?"

Regal smirked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some sort of remote. "All of you, of course."

As he pressed the button on the remote, the Netbattlers below suddenly began disappearing into the floor, one by one. Before Lan had any time to react, he felt the floor give way underneath him, and he fell into a deep pit, Regal's laughter fading away as he descended. The path soon curved, turning into a primitive slide, and Lan tried to use his feet to slow his descent, with mediocre results. Eventually he saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel, and he fell out of the slide into a dank, stone room, rolling and hitting the wall hard.

"Ugh..." He slowly sat up, grabbing his wrist, a sharp pain shooting through it after being landed on. He took a look around, taking in his surroundings; as far as he could tell, he was in some sort of dungeon below the castle. The room was completely empty, save for a single door, which he suspected was locked.

"Lan! Are you alright? What happened?" Lan reached down for his PET with his good hand, bringing it up and looking into the screen, where his Navi was waiting nervously.

"You heard what happened, right? With Regal and Nebula?"

Megaman nodded. "They're holding the government hostage, right? Something like that?"

"Something like that, yeah." Lan stood up. "They dropped us down into the basement, or dungeon, or whatever this is." He ran up to the door and tried to force it open, to no avail. "Damn... must be an electronic lock somewhere, but there's no port on this side..."

He took a moment to focus, before starting to fish through his pocket for something. "Megaman, do you think you could unlock this door without my help?"

"Probably," Megaman answered. "But even if we do get out, what can we do?"

Lan pulled out his wireless antenna. "I don't know, but it's got to be better than sticking around here." He plugged it in and quickly found the lock to the door, pressing a button and sending his Navi into the Cyberworld.

Looking around, Megaman quickly found the lock to the door. As he ran toward it, however, a variety of viruses suddenly appeared to block his way, growling and moving toward him menacingly.

"Megaman! I'm using a Style Change!" Lan called out, pressing another button on his PET, and Megaman's body lit up as it transformed itself into his orange Heat Guts style. He aimed his buster at the viruses and fired off a series of highly powerful shots, deleting them effortlessly with his heightened strength. He grinned and ran forward, hitting the switch for the door lock before returning to Lan's PET.

Lan wrenched the door open and found himself in a long hallway, full of old, locked wooden doors; he could see light and a stairwell at the end of it, and he began to run. Once he reached the other end of the hall, he heard his phone ringing, and quickly moved to answer it as he ran up the stairs, seeing Chaud's face on the other end.

"Lan! You're alright? You managed to escape too?"

Lan nodded. "I'm trying to find my way back into the castle. Where are you?"

"I'm doing the same," Chaud replied. "I've made a quick call to SciLab trying to figure out what exactly is going on."

"And?"

"It's complete chaos," he responded. "While we were waiting for the tournament to begin, Nebula made its move on SciLab. They somehow hacked into the OS and assigned Officials to all different parts of the country."

"Oh geez, really?" Lan groaned. "So we're not going to get any help here, are we?"

"No chance. They even deleted the entire SciLab OS when they were done. It's going to take them hours to get anybody out here, if not days."

"Damn... what else? Did they attack Mother Computer or something?" Lan wondered what kind of damage could have been done, thinking about the Mother Computer, which held all of the important systems and data for the governing of Electopia.

"Mother is fine. From what I hear, they were in and out as fast as they could be," Chaud answered. "They just didn't want Electopia interfering until it was too late, I guess."

Lan nodded. "So it's just Creamland that's in trouble?"

"Wait, there was one other thing," Chaud remembered. "Iris is missing."

"What?!" Lan and Megaman exclaimed at the same time. "What do they want with her?"

"I don't know, I'm just repeating what I was told. What's important is that we're completely on our own here."

"Great..." Lan reached the top of the stairs, looking around; there were two hallways in front of him, and a door to his right. "The fate of the country is in the hands of two kids." He started to run down another hallway, when something about the door caught his attention. There were some cracks in it, and he thought he could see something move inside.

"Well, we're not helpless. I'm going to try and find Regal. It sounds like he's doing most of the work here himself. You just focus on staying alive. I'll be in contact."

"Hold on a second..." Lan backed up a bit, his eyes on the old, wooden door, before he ran forward and slammed his shoulder into it. The door flew open upon impact, the lock flying right out of the rotted wood, and he tumbled to the floor, not expecting it to give so easily.

"What did you just do?" Chaud demanded, as Lan sat up, looking around the room, his eyes quickly coming to rest on a figure nearby.

"Ah! Princess!" Lan stood up and ran over to the corner of the room, where Princess Pride sat, slumped against the wall, her eyes closed and a gag over her mouth.

"What?! The princess?! Is she alive?"

Lan kneeled next to the princess, noticing her wrists and ankles were tied together, and leaned in closer. He could hear the sound of her breathing, and see her body subtly shift as she did so. "Yes! She's unconscious, but she's still alive!"

"That's great news." Chaud focused on his PET for a moment, and a second later, Lan's PET made a strange noise that he'd never heard. He looked down at it, and saw an insignia appear in the corner, the symbol of the Official Netbattlers.

"I'm giving you Official authority, for now," Chaud explained. "Do everything in your power to keep the princess safe. I'm going to stop whatever plans Regal has in place. Creamland is depending on us."

Lan nodded as Chaud hung up, feeling the responsibility starting to weigh on his nerves, and quickly got to removing the princess's restraints. She started to stir as Lan removed the gag from her mouth.

"Unh..." she mumbled. "What... where am I..."

"Princess!" Lan exclaimed, moving into her field of vision. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

Princess Pride looked up at her rescuer, and her eyes held a glint of recognition. "You're... one of the tournament Netbattlers, aren't you?" Her eyes soon filled with fear, and she scooted away a bit. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Er..." Lan hadn't expected such a response. "I'm Lan Hikari. I'm from Electopia..." He reached for his PET, showing it to her. "Look, I'm with the ONB. Kind of... for now, anyway."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness... I thought you were one of the others."

"What do you mean?" Lan inquired, moving to untie her wrists.

"We've been double-crossed," she explained. "Some of--"

She stopped, as a large grinding sound came from above. Both of them looked up, to see that a large number of spikes had emerged from the ceiling. The princess shrieked, while Lan, acting entirely on instinct, grabbed her in his arms and dashed for the door. He leaned down as closer to the floor as he could, arms wrapped awkwardly around the princess's waist, as her bound legs dragged along the floor. They made it out the door with no time to spare, as the ceiling crashed into the ground, trapping one of Lan's shoelaces. He tripped and fell forward, and Princess Pride fell out of his arms and onto the floor, bracing herself.

"Ouch!" Lan sat up, rubbing his face, and looked behind him to see his trapped shoelace; his foot had been mere inches from being crushed. "Whoa... that was close..." He reached back and yanked the shoelace free, then turned and moved toward the fallen princess.

"Are you okay?" He moved to untie her ankles. "Sorry... that looked like it hurt..."

"I'm... alright... I think..." She had to take a minute to catch her breath, her life still flashing before her eyes, before she started to come back to reality. "Might have twisted my ankle a bit..." As Lan started removing the rope binding her ankles, she hissed in pain. "Yes, yes I did..."

He paused, working a bit more carefully as he finished removing the rope, tossing it aside. "Can you stand? Do you need help?"

She took a deep breath as she got into a kneeling position, trying to push herself up, letting out a sharp cry of pain as she put weight onto her rolled ankle. Lan quickly moved underneath her as she slumped, helping to prop her up.

"We need to find someplace else. Is there anywhere in the castle that's safe?"

The princess nodded, slowly standing with Lan's help, her arm around his shoulders. "There's a panic room here in the dungeons. No one can enter it if someone's already inside." She looked around, trying to remember where she was, then pointed down a hallway. "It should be this way."

Lan nodded, and the two of them started slowly down the hallway, as she limped along and leaned heavily against him. He tried to keep himself focused, forcing his brain to think about what to do once the princess was safe. He had to work very hard to not think too much about the beautiful girl leaning against him now, or the softness of her body against his, or the light scent of her perfume.

After a few minutes of walking, they came to another locked door, and Lan reached for his PET, which still had the wireless antenna attached to it. "Megaman! You know the drill!"

Megaman nodded, and the princess watched as Lan changed his Navi into HeatGuts Style for the second time, sending him into the Cyberworld. He quickly took a look around, trying to find the lock, and finding a lot of other things instead.

"More viruses!" he reported, charging up his Buster and torching a series of Mettools, who were deleted almost instantly. "Not as strong as last time, though..." He ran forward to deactivate the lock, when he was knocked aside by a powerful blast, sending him skidding along the ground.

"Ow... who's there?!" He quickly scrambled back to his feet and turned, gaping in shock as he realized who his assailant was. Smirking and standing off to the side was Dr. Regal, bathed in a powerful orange aura.

"Surprised to see me, Megaman?" He pointed his finger at Lan's Navi, firing an energy blast in his direction, which Megaman barely managed to dodge.

"But how?! What are you doing in... why are you so strong?!"

"I don't have time for your questions," Regal replied tersely, raising his hands above his head, where a bright red energy blade appeared. "You're causing me far too much trouble. Time for you to disappear."

He swung the blade horizontally, sending out a red shockwave across the entire arena, as Megaman braced himself for the impact. As the attack approached, however, it was disrupted by another from above, a bright green blade. He looked upward as the two attacks cancelled each other out and dissipated, watching as a familiar Navi landed between him and Regal.

"Colonel!" Megaman exclaimed. Colonel didn't respond, staring down Regal, who grimaced, unhappy with this arrival.

"You again... don't you ever give up? You're not taking the Cybeasts from me!"

"Regal, you dog..." Colonel took a step forward. "This explains everything..."

"What?" Megaman inquired, running forward. "What's going on? What explains everything?"

"Get out of here!" Colonel ordered, turning. "I can handle Regal. You get the Princess to safety!"

Megaman nodded and ran toward the lock, as a determined Colonel and a reluctant Regal began to battle each other. He quickly had the door unlocked, and returned to Lan's PET.

"Got it!" Lan yanked the door open, but jumped back when he saw someone on the other side. The princess gasped, as they found themselves face-to-face with the female Netbattler whom Lan had met in the tournament hall.

"Princess Pride!" The woman bore an expression of shock and anger, glaring at Lan and Pride. The princess reflexively pushed away from Lan and pressed herself against the wall, standing on her good ankle.

"You! You're the one who captured me!"

"Her?!" Lan goggled. "But she's one of the competitors!"

"She's a traitor! She's under Nebula's employ!" the princess explained, as the girl gritted her teeth.

"I don't know how you got out, but you're going back in!" She threw a punch at Lan, who ducked and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her forward and kicking her as hard as he could, using his foot to shove her down the hallway as best he could. He grabbed the princess's hand and pulled her through the door with him; she quickly turned and slammed it shut, before locking it and trapping the Nebula operator inside.

"Phew..." she exhaled, catching her breath and smiling at Lan. "Good thing Electopia trains their ONB well."

"Well..." Lan rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not actually trained... Chaud's the real ONB, not me. I'm just making this up as I go."

The princess grinned. "Well, you've got good instincts then. Come on, we're almost there." The two of them got moving again, as quickly as they could manage; after another minute of walking, they came to a strong, steel door embedded in the wall. Pride tapped at a keypad nearby, and the door slowly opened. He walked her inside, leaving her leaning against the wall near the lock, as he grabbed a chair from another corner of the room and brought it to her.

"Just stay here and keep safe," he advised, as she sat down. "I'm going to help Chaud take down Regal. We're going to take care of this."

"Thank you for everything, Lan Hikari." Princess Pride clasped one of Lan's hand in both of hers, her eyes locked on his. "Please be careful. Our nation's fate is in your hands."

Lan nodded. "I won't let you down, I promise." He stepped outside as the princess shut the door, which sealed itself tight, and ran down the first hallway he could see. After a couple minutes of this, just as he realized he was completely lost, he rounded a corner and screeched to a halt, as Dr. Regal's imposing figure stood before him.

"Wh... what are you doing here?!" he managed, confusion and fear jostling for supremacy in his mind. "You were just..."

"Fighting Colonel in the Cyberworld?" Regal answered flatly, a low anger in his voice as he glared down at the young boy. "I abandoned that fight as soon as Megaman left. You are a more important target, right now." He walked forward slowly, as Lan backed up, ready to throw a punch if he needed to.

"You have been a continual thorn in my side ever since the Red Sun tournament," Regal began to lecture. "You stole Iris from us, you stopped us from winning the tournament with our Cybeast warriors... and now you seek to undo our work here in Creamland. I will not have it, not when we are so close to victory."

He stopped walking, standing tall over Lan. "I should have you tortured, just so you can feel the pain and frustration you have caused me... unfortunately, I'm a little pressed for time."

Before Lan had time to react, Regal pulled a handgun from his side and fired, point-blank, at Lan's chest. The force of the impact knocked him against the wall, and he crumpled limply to the ground.

"That takes care of that." Regal turned around. "Now just one more insect to take care of..." He started walking away, running through plans in his mind, leaving Lan lying in a heap on the ground, oblivious to Megaman's cries.

"Lan?! Say something! Lan, please!"


	11. The Final Cybeast

In the corner of a dark, secluded room in the Cyberworld, a female Navi sat holding herself, disoriented and fearful for her life. She had been trapped there for several hours, and though she may have been able to escape, she didn't even try. As she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she lifted her head up and looked nervously toward the sound; when she saw who it was, she relaxed a bit, though not completely.

"Are you alright?" she asked, seeing the approaching figure walking more slowly than normal, holding his side.

"Nothing a quick Energy subchip can't cure," the other Navi answered. "Nebula Navis are still swarming the castle, but I managed to take care of the ones nearby. Chased off Regal, too, the bastard." He stopped in front of her. "You should be safe here for now."

She nodded, looking down, averting her eyes from his gaze. "Thank you, Colonel..."

He glanced down at her, growing a little irritated that she refused to look at him properly. "Is that all you have to say to your brother, after all this time?"

She looked up at him quickly, alarmed at the tone in his voice. "I..."

"Do you have any idea how long I've spent looking for you, Iris?" he growled. "Over a dozen years, ever since Nebula found you and took you from me. Not to mention how difficult it was to break into SciLab and rescue you from them. I think a little more gratitude is in order."

"I'm sorry!" She shrunk herself down as best she could. "I'm sorry, Colonel... thank you for saving me, really..." She wrapped her arms more tightly around herself, fearful of what might happen if she provoked his wrath.

He shook his head, disappointed. "Well, we have more important things to talk about, anyway. It's the reason I brought you all the way out here."

Iris looked up toward him again. "It's the Cybeasts, isn't it...?"

"Yes." He held out his palm, where a number of pieces of data appeared, hovering above his hand; these were his subchips, small programs that he could execute for a number of different effects. "I managed to find the last one."

Her eyes shot open wide. "You have?! It's here?!"

"It is. It arrived in Creamland with the others, so to speak." He reached out and grabbed one subchip, as the rest disappeared again. He focused on it for a moment, feeling the program start to execute and heal his wound. "It will be tricky to get my hands on it, but soon all three Cybeasts will be under my control."

"So that's what you want me for..." Iris spoke quietly, still astonished at the news she had just received.

"Naturally." Colonel stood up fully, stretching his arm, testing his side. "It's likely the last thing I'll need you for. Do this for me, and then you can go wherever you want, do whatever you want. Since you apparently hate me so much."

"I... I don't..." She forced herself to look into his eyes, still frightened by what she saw. She would never get used to the swirling cloud of purple that shrouded his eyes, she thought to herself.

"Save it." He turned around, starting to walk away again. "I'll come get you when I have the Cybeasts in hand. Don't go anywhere."

She watched him leave, her breath trembling, finally looking down again as he disappeared from view. She held herself tightly, wishing with all her heart that she could magically be taken away from here, away from him. She closed her eyes, trying to picture herself back in SciLab, with Megaman at her side.

* * *

Rounding another corner, Chaud managed to find his way back to familiar territory: the tournament room, where the challengers had met. He noticed the trapdoors had sealed themselves again, but other than that, there was nothing of interest to be found here.

"I know I heard a gunshot from somewhere nearby..." He looked around, stepping forward cautiously.

"Looking for someone?" He wheeled around, to see Dr. Regal standing once again in the balcony, a smirk on his face and a gun in his hand, aiming down at the young Official.

"I just found him." Chaud glared up at the man, not moving a muscle. "So you're the one who fired that gunshot, then."

"Naturally," Regal replied. "I had to take care of a small nuisance. Now I just need to figure out how to break the bad news to Dr. Hikari."

Chaud's eyes shot open wide as he pieced together what the last statement meant, his heart sinking into his stomach. "Regal, you bastard...!"

"I'd be more worried about yourself if I was in your shoes." Regal cocked the gun he was holding, as Chaud tried to shake the anger and despair from his mind, racking his brain for some sort of plan. "I hate to lose valuable hostages so soon, but you and your Navi are much more trouble than you're worth."

Chaud gritted his teeth. "You're never going to get away with this. Once the Electopian military gets here, you're done."

The older man smirked, closing one eye and aiming for Chaud's torso. "We'll see who has the last-"

His boast was suddenly interrupted as he received a powerful shoulder check from behind him, knocking him over the edge of the balcony. The gun went off a half-second later, missing Chaud's body by inches, and he reflexively jumped back as Regal crashed into the floor below.

"Urgh... who..." Both of them quickly looked up to see Lan looking over the edge of the balcony, holding his chest and breathing heavily.

"What?!" Regal growled and tried to sit up, ignoring his newly-wrenched shoulder. "How are you still alive?! I shot you at point-blank range!"

"Yeah, you did," Lan called out tauntingly. "You must be a really crappy shot."

Regal bared his teeth, standing up and aiming his handgun again. "I won't miss a second time, you-" He abruptly stopped talking, his whole body stiffening, as Chaud jammed the taser ends of his PET into his back. The gun quickly fell from his hand, and he crumpled back into a pile on the floor after several painful seconds, unconscious.

Chaud sighed, looking up at Lan as he struggled to climb over to the other side of the balcony, relief washing over him. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you."

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual." Lan tried to hang down from the balcony, wanting to fall a shorter distance, but he lost his grip and plummeted eight feet down to the ground. He grabbed his chest as he landed, loudly shouting a word he would never dare to say in front of his mother, as Chaud ran over to him.

"Are you alright? What happened back there?" He offered a hand to Lan, waiting for it to be accepted, as his eyes focused on Lan's chest, which was clearly in serious pain. As Lan moved his hand away, Chaud did a double take as he saw a clear bullet hole in Lan's vest. "What... he actually... how are you alive?!"

Lan smirked and coughed, reaching into the vest pocket that displayed the bullet hole, pulling out a blue diamond charm that had a bullet firmly lodged in its center. "Mayl gave me this good luck charm at the airport. Never thought it would come in handy like this..."

Chaud shook his head in disbelief, as Lan clasped his hand. "You are, without question, the luckiest person I've ever met." He helped the boy to his feet. "Can you stand on your own?"

"Yeah... feels like my ribs are broken or something, though..." Lan's hand went back to his chest.

"They probably are," Chaud replied, walking back over to the pile of Regal on the ground. "Don't strain yourself."

Lan nodded, following behind. "So what do we do now? Is it over?"

Chaud shook his head, grabbing Regal and flipping him over, reaching for a zip-tie to bind his wrists. "Regal can't do any more damage himself, but I'm sure that all sorts of things are going down in the castle Cyberworld. Once we get him tied up, we'll have to jack in and do our best to..."

He cut himself off, as the sound of a ringing telephone filled the room. Lan reached for his PET and looked into the screen, eyes widening when he realized who was calling. "Colonel!"

"Where is Regal? Is he still there?" Colonel demanded, as Chaud leaned in, watching the screen over Lan's shoulder.

"He's right here," Lan answered. "He's knocked out." He pointed his PET screen down at the unconscious body so Colonel could see.

"Good," the Navi replied. "You need to jack his body into a Pulse Transmission System, right away. There should be plenty in the meeting hall."

"Pulse Transmission System?" Lan looked around the room, his eyes quickly drawn to the strange chairs that lined the back of the room, wondering if those were what they needed. Chaud grabbed one of Regal's arms and started dragging him over to one of them, confirming Lan's suspicions.

"Over here. Help me get him into this thing." He grunted as he started pulling Regal up into the chair, wishing the man was about twenty pounds lighter.

"What are these?" Lan wondered, as he walked over and helped get the body sitting up properly, moving gingerly so as to not aggravate his injury.

"It's a technology that Creamland developed." Chaud reached upward and pulled the attached headpiece down over Dr. Regal's head. "It allows the user to project his body into the Cyberworld, like a NetNavi."

Lan thought back to fifteen minutes ago, when he had seen Regal's body in the Cyberworld. "That definitely explains some things..."

Chaud put Regal's hands onto the arms of the chair, over a couple of translucent panels. "That should do it."

"Good," Colonel spoke up from Lan's PET. "Send him into the Cyberworld, then jack both your Navis in. I'm going to need their help."

"Doing what?" Lan asked, as Chaud started pressing some buttons, turning the machine on.

"You'll see," the Navi answered, ending the call. Lan looked around for a jack-in port, finding several lining the large table in the center of the room. He walked over to it as he pulled out his PET's cable, plugging it in and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.

* * *

Megaman found three other bodies waiting for him upon his arrival in the Cyberworld. Protoman was standing next to him, having just arrived, while Colonel was standing next to the unconscious body of Dr. Regal, lying on the ground and still sporting the strange orange glow it had before.

"What on Earth is that?" Protoman inquired, walking over toward the body. "That strange aura..."

"That," Colonel replied, "is Servir. Our missing Cybeast."

"What?!" Both of the other Navis ran over toward Dr. Regal's limp form, looking him over, as if looking at him more carefully might make them understand.

"It's possessing him somehow." Colonel kneeled next to the body. "Controlling his body and mind, turning him toward darkness and destruction... who knows how long it's been here."

"Unbelievable..." Protoman sounded clearly astonished, a rarity for him. "Perhaps that's how Regal could command the other two Cybeasts."

"Maybe..." Megaman stepped a bit closer. "So... what do we do? How are we supposed to get it out?"

"That's what I'm here for." Colonel stood up and raised his arm, which glowed a bright white and transformed into what appeared to be a giant syringe. "I'll extract it myself, but it's going to put up a fight. I need you two to restrain Dr. Regal while I take Servir."

Megaman nodded and bent down to hold down Regal's left arm, while Protoman took his right. Colonel placed his foot on Regal's chest, looking at the other two. "Ready?" The other two nodded, and Colonel reared back and plunged the needle into Regal's chest.

Regal instantly awakened, crying out in pain and battling to free himself from his constraints. Megaman and Protoman both held him down with all their strength, surprised at how hard they had to struggle to keep him in place. A few seconds later, a strange orange substance began to fill Colonel's syringe, and Regal's yells changed to a cross between a shriek and a loud rasp.

Megaman felt a familiar wave of revulsion wash over him, and he suddenly felt weak, falling forward a bit and starting to lose his grip. An instant later the device on his hip flashed, warding off the effects of Servir, and he continued to hold down Regal as best he could. After a minute that felt like half an hour, Regal finally fell back into unconsciousness, drained of his energy as well as the Cybeast.

"Is that it?" Megaman asked, still holding Regal's arm down, to be safe. "Is the Cybeast out of his body?" He looked up at Colonel, whose syringe was now filled to the brim with the strange orange substance. Megaman could barely believe that the Cybeast could fit into such a small space, but Colonel's arm was now giving off the same orange aura that Regal had been.

"Yes, he is. I've got him, right here." Colonel lowered his arm slowly, gingerly, as if worried he might break the glass of the syringe and set the Cybeast free.

"What now, then?" Protoman let go of Regal's arm, stepping closer. "We still have a Cybeast on our hands, and two others that are who knows where. Without Regal controlling them, they could be anywhere."

"You let me worry about them," Colonel answered. "You should attend to the good doctor when he wakes up." He quickly teleported away, before the other two Navis could ask him any more questions.

Megaman looked upward, following the beam of light as it flew up into the sky of the Cyberworld. "He's just... leaving? He's not going to need our help with the Cybeasts?"

"I don't know what he's planning," Protoman answered. "We'll find out soon enough. But he's right. We need to take care of Dr. Regal. He's going to be more than a little disoriented when he wakes up." Megaman nodded in response, as the two Navis were jacked out of the Cyberworld and sent back to their PETs.

* * *

A few minutes later, Dr. Regal stirred, his eyes opening only partially. He was able to see two familiar young boys in front of him, watching him carefully and a bit nervously, asking him if he was alright. He sat motionless for several long seconds, waiting for something to happen, waiting for his body to move on its own, as it had done every day for the past fifteen years. He blinked in surprise as he continued to sit motionless and silent, before daring to try moving his head, his eyes widening in shock as it obeyed his commands. He quickly lifted his arms, holding his hands in front of his face, the sensation of movement simultaneously familiar and alien. His breathing trembled as he realized what was happening, realized that what he had prayed for for so long had finally come.

Lan watched as Regal placed his hands on his face, then his legs, looking as if he might tear up at any moment. He leaned in a bit closer to Chaud, keeping his voice low. "Should we be doing something right now?"

"Give him a minute," came the reply. They continued to watch as Regal came to terms with his newfound freedom, before the man looked back toward them. His eyes quickly focused on one of the two boys.

"Lan... you're alive," he uttered, his voice shaking. "Are you hurt badly? What happened?"

"I... I'll live," Lan answered, a bit taken aback, not having expected Regal to remember what he had done. "Some broken ribs, maybe? The bullet hit something in my pocket."

Regal nodded, the immense relief clear in his expression. "How is your father?"

"Dad?" Lan took a second to realize what he was referring to, as he remembered walking into Dr. Hikari's office to find him unconscious on the floor. "Oh, right. He's fine. He's taking it easy at home. You didn't hurt him... permanently, or anything."

"Thank God..." Regal leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "I couldn't do anything to stop myself, I swear... I had no control... I was a prisoner inside my own body, while that monster did so many horrid things..."

Lan watched him hold himself for a moment, feeling like he should be giving the man a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate or something. Chaud gave him a few seconds before he took a step closer, having some important questions to ask.

"How did this happen, exactly? And when did it happen, for that matter?"

"This all began fifteen years ago, when the Cybeasts first appeared." Regal spoke freely, eagerly, as if offering up information might help him to atone. "Our tools showed some anomalous readings in what is now Black Earth, so I sent one of our Navis to investigate."

"Black Earth?" Chaud's eyebrows raised in surprise, as did Lan's. Both of them knew of the seldom-traveled, virus-ridden region of the Net that had come to be known as Black Earth, due to the danger and the rumors of strange evils that resided there. Regal nodded and continued.

"I sent the Navi off on its own to take a look and report the data back to me, but it never returned. So I sent another one, but I watched it through my PET this time, to see what it saw. As it got close to the source of the anomaly, though, the screen went black. The Navi was deleted soon after, but I couldn't determine what had done it. That was when I decided I wanted to see it with my own eyes."

"Your own eyes? But how..." As Lan watched Regal curiously, his eyes flicked upward to the helmet now hanging above his head, and he quickly realized the answer to his own question. "You mean... you pulsed in and went to Black Earth yourself?!"

"It wasn't Black Earth then," Regal explained. "It was just another part of the Net that was acting somewhat strange. I was too curious to properly assess the danger." He took a moment before continuing. "So I went in myself, from the closest access point I had access to. That was when I saw them... three enormous monsters..."

"The Cybeasts?!" Chaud exclaimed. "How did you see them in Black Earth?! They first appeared in End Net City!"

"That happened a week or so afterwards," Regal explained. "Nobody but me saw them in Black Earth, and I never got a chance to report what I had seen. That's when I was attacked."

"Attacked? You mean by Servir?" Lan asked.

Regal nodded in response. "Yes, that horrible serpent. I tried to pulse out as quickly as I could, but he still got his fangs deep in me before I could escape... both literally and figuratively, I suppose."

"Well, he's gone now," Chaud replied. "He can't control you anymore. It's over."

Regal shook his head, his voice growing stronger. "No, no, it's not over at all..." He put his hands on the arms of the chair. "We still have to do something about the Navi that ordered Servir to attack me all those years ago... before he gets his hands on the other two Cybeasts."

Lan could feel the color drain from his face, as he realized who Regal was referring to. "Please tell me you're joking..." He glanced over at Chaud, who was having the same reaction.

"Colonel is not to be trusted." Dr. Regal slowly pushed himself into a standing position, relieved to know his legs still worked, though he wasn't sure why they wouldn't. "He may have had SciLab fooled, but not Nebula. His ambitions for the Cybeasts are just as dark as mine... were. He must be stopped."

He started walking toward one of the doors leading out. "I have a lot of work to do, undoing the damage I've done to this castle's systems. I can track down Colonel while I'm at it. You two have to go wherever he is and destroy him."

Lan nodded, following behind Regal, who was starting to sprint toward his destination; Chaud lagged behind just a bit, wary as always. The trio ran down various hallways until they reached a metal, computerized door, which Regal quickly unlocked. Running in, they found themselves in a large room filled to the brim with computing equipment; various consoles and screens lined the walls, and in the center stood a tall structure, humming loudly and beeping intermittently.

"This is the Mother mainframe, I'm guessing," Chaud spoke. Lan looked around for a moment, recognizing the term immediately. In Electopia, the Mother Computer was the one supercomputer structure that held the critical information and systems for governing the country; each nation had their own, including Creamland.

Regal nodded, walking over to a nearby console and typing away, searching the Cyberworld for Colonel; it didn't take him long to locate the Navi. "Colonel... he's right here. He's inside the mainframe." He turned toward the two boys standing nearby. "Both of you, jack into this control panel. I can send you directly to where he is."

Lan walked closer, pulling out his PET cable and jacking in without hesitation. Chaud followed a second later, looking in Regal's direction. "If this is some sort of trick or trap, you're going to severely regret it."

"I don't think I could possibly have more regrets," Regal answered, a somberness in his voice. Chaud's eyes narrowed as he pulled out his PET's cable, sending Protoman into the Mother mainframe.

* * *

As he arrived in the Cyberworld, Megaman quickly took a look around, as did Protoman. They had landed in the center of a large, empty circle; all around them, a short distance away, was a large number of tall processing towers, all of them working on various jobs. He kept turning, nearly jumping out of his skin as he found himself face-to-face with the enormous forms of Gregar and Falzar, standing quietly near some of the towers.

He braced himself, expecting the two Cybeasts to attack as soon as they saw him, but they stayed surprisingly still, not even bristling at his appearance. He remained tense, looking them over carefully, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the figures standing above them, on one of the processing towers. Colonel was standing tall, looking down at Megaman disdainfully, his arm still formed into a glowing orange syringe. Standing a short ways behind him was the much smaller figure of Iris; he saw her eyes widen as she spotted him, nearly gasping.

"Iris!" Megaman called out, running toward her. "Get away from him, quick!" Colonel's eyes flared as he approached, and Gregar quickly leaped forward, swatting Megaman away with an enormous paw and sending him skidding across the ground.

"You two have already served your purpose," Colonel called out, as Gregar walked back into the position he was in before. "If either of you had any sense, you'd jack out now and save me the trouble of deleting you."

"You..." Protoman steeled himself, his mind racing with numerous questions he wanted to ask, before finally settling on one. "What do you want with the Cybeasts?! What are you planning?!"

"I'm going to use them to destroy this Net-based world of yours," Colonel answered, having no good reason not to answer at this point. "This society will come crashing to the ground. First Creamland, then Electopia, and then every other nation, one after the other. There's nothing on this planet worth saving."

"How are you using them?!" Megaman demanded, getting to his feet and running closer. "How are you controlling the Cybeasts?!"

"I've always been able to control the Cybeasts," came the answer, Colonel's voice sounding impatient and irritated. "I was created to control them, just as they were created to obey me. We were all created together, bound forever in symbiosis, by higher powers than either of you have ever known. And now, finally, we are reunited once again."

He raised his arm above his head, the needle starting to glow a bright orange, and a flash of light engulfed the Cyberworld, forcing Megaman and Protoman to look away. When they looked back, one more monster had joined the fray; a gigantic, orange cobra was lying between Gregar and Falzar, its forked tongue tasting the air.

Colonel nodded, looking satisfied, before turning back toward the Navi standing behind him. "Your turn, Iris. I sincerely hope you haven't forgotten how it's done."

She nodded, stepping forward and walking to the edge of the tower. Her eyes focused on the three Cybeasts in front of her, waiting patiently for their next command.

"Iris, no!" Megaman called out, causing her to look in his direction. "Don't listen to him! Whatever he wants you to do, you don't have to do it!" The two of them kept their eyes locked on each other for a few moments, as she stood still, hesitating. He could see the struggle happening within her mind, as she wrestled with the orders Colonel had apparently given her. She eventually looked down, muttering something that Megaman couldn't hear, as she raised her hand and held it above the three monsters below her.

Colonel nodded, satisfied, as Iris's hand generated a light blue aura that slowly began to expand. As Megaman and Protoman watched, the aura spread out over the arena, encasing everyone in its light. The Cybeasts didn't move a muscle as they began to glow as well, and their bodies rose into the air, moving toward each other and meeting at a single point. Their bodies began to distort and merge, transforming into one enormous, hideous mass of limbs, fur, feathers and scales.

When the light finally faded, only one gigantic Cybeast remained. Gregar's body rested on bottom, streaked with purple and orange and ending in a short, serpentine tail; from his back grew two large, red wings, each one lined with razor-tipped feathers. Its eyes, large and red, glowed as it let out a massive roar, a culmination of the cries of the three original monsters.

Colonel's face twisted into an evil grin, showing emotion for the first time Megaman could remember. "Finally... Gryfon is whole once again. I never thought I'd see the day..."

"Yes..." Iris started backing away a bit, as the monster's eyes focused on the two Navis in front of it. "I've done what you asked... now... now, please..." She still had trouble saying exactly what she wanted to, intimidated to ask anything of her brother. She jumped a bit as she felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder, looking up at him in surprise.

"You want me to tell you that you can leave," he responded. She fought her instinct to look away, trying to push her fear deep down inside her, and slowly nodded.

He grunted. "If that's what you really want... then I have no more need for you."

She felt his hand clench her shoulder powerfully and painfully, causing her to cry out in pain and shock. He quickly whirled around and flung her down into the makeshift arena with Megaman, Protoman and Gryfon; she slid along the ground for a moment before colliding heavily with one of the processing towers, knocking her out cold.

"No! Iris!" Megaman ran toward her, wanting to ensure that she was alright, when Gryfon leaped from his position and landed in front of the advancing Navi, causing him to screech to a stop. The Cybeast pointed its wings forward, firing a barrage of feathers at Megaman, knocking him painfully away.

Colonel watched as the blue Navi got painfully back to his feet, backing away as Gryfon slowly advanced. As he watched, he found himself suddenly launched forward, propelled by a powerful blast from behind. He fell down into the makeshift arena, quickly standing up and looking toward his assailant, jumping back as Protoman leaped down after him, brandishing a Long Sword.

"You won't be getting away with this!" Chaud's Navi called out, swiping at his enemy. "If you're the one controlling the Cybeasts, then you're going to be the first to go!"

Colonel glared, extending his arm and forming a blade of his own. "I don't need the Cybeasts to defeat you. I'll delete you myself, right here!" The two Navis began to duel, as Megaman looked upward at the monster that was slowly advancing on him.

"He's fast... and strong... really strong..." he commented, loud enough for his operator to hear. "Lan, what do we do? How are we supposed to stop this thing?"

"I don't know, but there's only one thing we can do," Lan responded, activating Megaman's HeatGuts style. "We've got to just hit it with everything we've got!"

Megaman nodded, as his body changed to a bright orange, his buster powering up and transforming. "Let's do it!" He dashed toward the monstrous Cybeast, ready for what he hoped wasn't his last battle.


	12. Beast Out

Protoman's sword clashed with Colonel's, as the two Navis dueled fiercely with all of their might. Neither warrior had achieved much of an edge, as they were rather equally matched.

"Why are you doing this, Colonel?" Protoman demanded, swinging away. "What reason do you have to want to destroy this world?" The two clashed swords, and they struggled against each other for a moment. Protoman's eyes locked on Colonel's, allowing him to see the dark purple clouds that filled his eyes, behind his irises.

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Colonel shot back, slowly pushing his foe back with his considerable strength. "Gryfon and I will raze this world to the ground. That's all you need to know."

"So you're just another Navi gone mad, then." Protoman generated another sword and stabbed toward Colonel, who quickly jumped backward. "You're just the kind of cretin I'm designed to delete." The two continued their battle, as Megaman flew across the arena behind them, crashing into a wall.

"Ugh..." He rubbed his head, standing up and looking back at his monstrous opponent, wishing that his HeatGuts style was still active, ineffective though it was. He had reverted to his normal form a couple of minutes ago, making an impossible battle even harder than it already was. "Lan, how much longer until I can change again?"

"Any second now!" Lan replied, sending his Navi an Area Steal. As Gryfon charged, Megaman vanished and reappeared atop the arena wall behind his foe, taking a moment to catch his breath. Seconds later, a ready icon appeared on the screen of Lan's PET.

"Alright, we're ready! Let's try AquaCustom Style!" He quickly pressed a couple of buttons, and Megaman flashed for a minute before changing into his light blue AquaCustom form. He smirked a bit as Gryfon turned around, snarling, and he received a Fire Sword from Lan.

"You may be stronger than my HeatGuts Style, but I'm sure a Program Advance or two will cut you down to size..." He leaped down into the arena, receiving an Aqua Sword and running in, as Gryfon charged again.

"Let's do it!" Lan slotted in an Elec Sword chip, and Megaman raised his weapons above his head, forming a powerful blade of glowing red energy.

"Take this!" the Navi yelled, swinging the Life Sword 2 forward in front of him, the attack arcing forward and flying directly at the Cybeast. Gryfon quickly stopped its charge, screeching to a halt and steeling itself as the Life Sword approached. Right before the attack connected, its wings extended in front of it, acting as a shield, absorbing and deflecting the brunt of the Life Sword. Megaman gaped as the energy sword dissipated, leaving a nearly unscathed Gryfon behind.

"Not even a scratch..." He could only stare in amazement as Gryfon roared, stretching its wings and aiming them in his direction. Megaman snapped back to reality as the Cybeast unleashed a barrage of razor-tipped feathers, and he barely managed to dodge the brunt of it, receiving several small wounds to his legs.

"Gah! Ow... damn it..." He quickly got up onto one knee as he looked over at Gryfon, who was slowly advancing on him once again.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Lan wondered aloud, trying to stay calm and not panic. "Our strongest attacks don't do anything!"

"I don't know what we do," Megaman replied, standing up on somewhat tender legs, upon which his hands rested. "I'm not remotely strong enough to..." He stopped himself as he felt something on his hip; he looked down and saw the small, circular device attached to him, warding off the Beast Out effects of the Cybeasts. "Strong enough to..." he uttered again, his mind concocting a crazy idea.

"Megaman, what are you doing?" Lan prompted. Megaman didn't respond, instead grabbing the device from his side and throwing it on the ground. He immediately stomped on it, shattering it into a hundred pieces.

"No! Megaman! Are you crazy?!" Chaud looked over at Lan briefly, surprised by his shouting, as Megaman stared down at the remnants of his protective device. An instant later, he felt a familiar sense of illness wash over him, and he collapsed to the ground, feeling his legs go weak. Gryfon stopped his charge, curious, and watched as his presence washed over the Navi in front of him, who was beginning to transform.

"Aah!" Megaman cried out as feathers began to burst from his arms, which were turning into bright red wings. His frame started to change colors as well, to a dark purple and gray mix that matched Gryfon's fur. He continued to scream in pain as claws grew from his hands, his cries slowly becoming more deep and guttural as they changed into roars. The strange noises caught both Protoman and Colonel off guard, and both of them looked over to see what was going on. Colonel quickly came back to his senses after realizing what was happening, stepping closer to his foe and swinging his sword; Protoman noticed the movement and reacted as quickly as possible, stepping back, but Colonel's blade still sliced deep into his side.

"Argh!" Protoman fell to the ground, grabbing his injury, as Colonel smirked and advanced, victory in his sights. He raised his sword to attack a second time, but was knocked away by a massive energy blast, sending him careening into one of the processing towers. Protoman looked toward the source of the blast to see a snarling Megaman standing up, his arm outstretched and his buster smoking. Without missing a beat, he growled and fired another blast in Protoman's direction, instantaneous and just as powerful. Protoman barely managed to roll out of the way, looking back at Lan's Navi, who had now turned his attention back toward the monster he had been battling previously.

Protoman watched as Gryfon roared and ran toward Megaman, ready to attack. As the monster came within striking range, Megaman dashed forward and jumped, slamming his foot into the side of the monster's head. The Cybeast flew across the arena and slammed hard against the wall, howling in shock and pain. Megaman raced after it with incredible speed, sliding to a stop and grabbing the monster by its foot as it tried to stand. Letting out another roar, he started spinning the massive monster around in circles, lifting it off the floor, before letting go and sending Gryfon flying toward another wall, where Colonel and Protoman were standing and watching. Both had to dive out of the way to avoid the flying Cybeast.

"My God... what strength..." Protoman uttered, awed and somewhat fearful of what he was witnessing.

"Megaman..." Lan watched the battle unfold through his PET screen, hope and fear jostling for position in his heart. "If he keeps this up, he'll destroy everything else along with the Cybeast..." He gripped his PET tightly with both hands, anxious. "Megaman! Snap out of it, please!"

His Navi faltered a bit upon hearing Lan's words. He stopped running, his harsh eyes softening a bit, before he fell to his knees and grabbed his head, as if it were in great pain. Gryfon stood up and shook itself off before turning toward its foe, enraged and snarling. It let out a deafening roar and charged once again, seeing its prey distracted.

"Agh... haaah..." Megaman doubled over, in clear mental and physical distress, as the Cybeast advanced, ready to strike. It pounced upon its foe, breathing fire in his direction as its claws closed in. As Gryfon swiped at its adversary bathed in flame, an explosion of energy came from below, blasting the Cybeast away once again. As the flames subsided, Megaman was standing up, breathing heavily as his buster smoked.

"Sorry about that, Lan," he spoke, a little out of breath. "I'm back now... I think. Pretty sure."

Lan breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, Megaman! That was totally crazy!"

Megaman grinned. "Sorry to worry you. I was running low on ideas..."

"What?! How?!" Colonel exclaimed in disbelief, as he watched Megaman come to his senses. "No ordinary Navi should be able to-!" He stopped short, gasping as he felt Protoman's sword piercing through his stomach from behind. He felt weakness spread through his body, as his foe stood behind him, smirking.

"It seems that Megaman is no ordinary Navi," Protoman taunted, confident that the end of the battle was at hand. "Too bad for you." Expecting Colonel to begin dissolving into deletion, he was shocked to see the Navi force himself forward off of the sword that was impaling him, before turning around.

"This battle isn't over yet," Colonel growled, extending his hand and using up every Energy subchip he had, partially healing the wound. "Not for either of you." He stepped forward and swung his sword once again, their battle resuming.

At the other end of the arena, Megaman watched as an infuriated Gryfon got back to its feet once again. "We need to finish this fast. Protoman needs our help."

Lan nodded in agreement, as Gryfon once again set its sights on the half-beast Navi. It paused for a moment, having learned that charging its opponent was not a good idea, trying to think of another way to attack. Seconds later, it spread its wings and swept them forward like twin swords, sending a wide-reaching barrage of razor-sharp feathers in Megaman's direction. He stood still and watched them approach, vanishing with an Area Steal at the last minute. An instant later, the Cybeast felt a light explosion on its back; turning around quickly, it found Megaman's arm outstretched right in front of him, firing a series of feathers straight into its eyes.

Gryfon shrieked in pain, blinded, breathing fire all around as Megaman jumped back, grinning. "That should slow it down a bit..." He watched as the Cybeast started turning in all directions, stomping about and roaring, determined to find and destroy its assailant. As it rampaged, it exuded flames and feathers in all directions, including toward Colonel and Protoman, as well as Iris's limp and unconscious form. Megaman gasped as they flew over her frame, missing her by inches.

"Crap... that backfired completely, didn't it?" He watched as the monster continued to rampage. "We've got to finish this quick, Lan, before it destroys everything!"

His operator nodded, pulling out three Battlechips for another Program Advance. "You ready, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded, extending his right arm, which quickly generated a Cannon. As a High Cannon appeared on his other, he watched Gryfon turn approximately toward Protoman, charging and breathing flames in his general direction. Protoman leaped backwards to get out of the way, but quickly fell back over, holding his injured side.

"Ugh..." He was unable to hold his pain in, landing on the ground in front of Iris's body. Gryfon instantly turned toward the sound, preparing for another assault, before a blow from the side knocked it away and onto its back. The Cybeast rolled over and stood up quickly, trying to sense the location of its attacker.

"Over here, ugly!" Megaman called out. Gryfon quickly snarled and turned toward the sound of his voice, unable to see the large Zeta Cannon that had formed on his arm, and unable to defend itself from the assault that followed. Megaman fired one explosive round after another directly at the Cybeast, and a series of massive explosions rang out throughout Mother Computer as Gryfon took the full force of every blast. Over the noise, a horrific mix of roars and screeches could be heard, as the monster disappeared behind a massive cloud of smoke.

When the blasts ended and the smoke finally cleared, the room collectively gaped at the sight in front of them. The Cybeast was lying on its side, nearly dead; major parts of its face were gone, its legs were in pieces across the arena, and several large holes had pierced themselves right through its torso. Megaman lowered his buster arm, breathing heavily, his energy drained.

"Unbelievable," Protoman muttered to himself. "He's... it's..."

"Impossible!" Colonel ran forward, trying to get a better look, not wanting to believe the evidence from his own eyes. "You can't have defeated Gryfon, you miserable Navi! You can't!"

"It appears he has." Protoman slowly got back to his feet, pointing his sword at Colonel. "Your terror ends here, Colonel. There's nothing left for you to throw at us."

Colonel gritted his teeth, looking to Protoman, then Megaman, then the fallen Cybeast. "No... it's not over, not yet!" As Protoman tensed, Colonel suddenly vanished with an Area Steal; both Megaman and Protoman looked around for him, finding him standing next to the Cybeast. He quickly reached out and placed his hand on the half-obliterated carcass, and the two of them began to glow a blinding white.

Megaman tried to aim his buster at the Navi, but was forced to look away from the intense light, covering his eyes. Moments later, a shockwave of energy nearly knocked him off his feet, and he struggled to stay upright, as the injured Protoman fell back to the floor. Once the light faded, both Navis looked back to see Colonel covered chaotically in purple, orange and red streaks, fully energized and emitting a light glow.

"What?! What did you do?!" Megaman demanded, even though he already knew the answer.

"I took matters into my own hands," Colonel responded, his voice low and growling. "I won't let you stop me here! Nothing will stop me!"

Megaman gritted his teeth, charging up his buster. "We'll see about that!" He fired a shot directly at Colonel, the same shot that knocked him away minutes before; his foe knocked it away as it if were a beach ball, before dashing toward Megaman and grabbing him by his neck. He gasped and struggled for a moment as Colonel grinned maniacally, his hand glowing a bright white; seconds later, it exploded in a flash of light, knocking Megaman backward and sending him rolling across the floor. He groaned as he came to a stop, rubbing his sore head and starting to stand back up. As he put his hand on the floor to push himself up, he looked down at it, his eyes widening as he realized something was very wrong.

"What the..." He looked all over himself, seeing his normal blue armor and bodysuit, his heart sinking into his stomach. "I'm not part Cybeast anymore! What did he do?!"

Colonel couldn't help but laugh at the confusion on Megaman's face, practically giddy at the situation, as Protoman limped toward him from behind, swinging his blade. Colonel quickly wheeled around, gripping Protoman's sword tight and lifting the Navi clean off the ground. He swung him around and flung him toward Megaman, and the two Navis collided hard, falling back to the ground. Megaman quickly got back to his feet, while Protoman could only manage to rise up on one knee, both of them staring down their terrifyingly powerful foe.

"What... what do we do now?" Megaman wondered, as the superpowered Navi advanced on them.

"You got me," Protoman replied, as Colonel smirked at the two of them, thoroughly pleased. He extended both his arms in their direction, starting to charge a powerful energy blast in each one. As he gathered energy into his hands, a pair of arms suddenly appeared from behind him, locking over his shoulders and holding the Navi in place.

"Gah!" Colonel abruptly stopped charging his energy blasts, taken by surprise. "Who-" He tried to throw his arms forward to dislodge the smaller Navi behind him, but his body refused to respond. He tried to march forward, but his legs wouldn't obey him, as if he had no control over them.

"You're not the only one who can control the Cybeasts, Colonel," spoke a soft but stern voice from behind him. Megaman immediately recognized the voice, running to Colonel's side to see who was holding him.

"Iris!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"You! What?!" Colonel exclaimed, trying once again to free himself, to no avail. "Let me go this instant, you little..."

"I won't," Iris responded. "You're not going to be hurting anyone else, ever again."

"You... you..." Colonel struggled to respond, his rage tempered by a sudden panic, as he realized the grievous mistake he had made. By merging his body with Gryfon's and becoming part Cybeast, he had inadvertently given Iris the power to control his every move, just as he had been able to control the beasts himself. He could hear a strength in her voice that he had never heard before, unmarred by the fear that had always been present up until now. Her sudden confidence and power over him quickly filled him with a fear that he had never experienced before.

"What are you going to do, Iris?" Megaman called out, concern clear in his voice, as Colonel continued to struggle.

"The only thing I can do," Iris replied, holding her brother as tightly as she could. "I'm going to self-destruct, and take him with me."

"No!" Megaman exclaimed, as Protoman stepped forward to listen in. "Iris, you can't! You don't have to do this!"

"Megaman, please..." Iris spoke more calmly, as her arms began to glow. "You have to let me do this. This is what I want." Megaman paused, not expecting such a response, as she continued.

"I've spent so much of my life being used by others. First Colonel, then Nebula... both of them using my powers for their own twisted ends, for years. I've had no control over my own life, ever since we came to this world."

"This... this world?" Megaman wondered, mystified by this comment.

"Now, I finally can use my powers the way I want to..." Iris continued, as the rest of her body started to glow as well. "And I want to use it to save the people I care about... I want to help my friends."

For the first time since Megaman had met her, he saw Iris smile.

"Iris..." he spoke softly. He felt gutted, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop her now, but deep inside himself, he felt proud of her at the same time.

Iris's face became serious once again, as she started to glow brighter, electricity crackling all over her body, as well as Colonel's. "Go! Now!" Megaman nodded reluctantly, as Lan jacked him out, with Protoman following soon after.

"Grrgh..." Colonel struggled as hard as he could, trying in vain to break free of Iris's grasp. "This is the last time I'm going to tell you! Let me go this instant!"

Iris didn't respond, closing her eyes tightly, letting her mind transport her elsewhere in her last moments. She saw an image of rolling green hills, lush forests and pristine lakes; the image was fuzzy at first, but came into view more clearly as she delved deep into her memories. The image turned to abandoned cityscapes, covered in grass and vines as nature worked to reclaim them. Finally, her mind brought forth a vision of a tall tower, dominating the landscape, with Iris living inside of it, alongside the gruff but kind-hearted brother she once had. She held onto this image as her body expanded into a bright white light, one that encased Colonel and his screams, before they were silenced for good.

* * *

The next day, Megaman was back to normal and safely in Lan's PET, finally allowing his mind to be still. The last twenty-four hours had been chaotic, but a good kind of chaotic, where the whirlwind of ensuing events had gradually relieved his stress instead of adding to it. The Princess and the other hostages had been freed, Dr. Regal had surrendered himself peacefully to the authorities, and Electopian Officials had finally arrived to help clean up the mess that Nebula and Colonel had wrought. He was thankful for the distractions, not wanting or needing any more time to lament the sacrifice that had finally brought everything to an end.

He looked through the PET's screen at the outside world, where Lan was standing atop a small podium next to Chaud, a nervous excitement coursing through him, as a small crowd watched from below. He wrote a brace on his injured wrist, while his chest had been wrapped in bandages for the sake of his broken ribs, the pain from which had receded to a dull but constant throb. In front of both him and Chaud stood a highly appreciative Princess Pride, who was receiving a small blue box from a nearby advisor. She held it carefully in her hands as she walked closer to them, stepping gingerly on the ankle brace that was hidden by her dress.

"Lan Hikari... Eugene Chaud..." she began. "This nation owes you a great deal. Had it not been for your skills, judgment, and courage, our country would have been forced to surrender to the evil hands of Nebula and the Cybeasts. We are forever in your debt."

She opened the box to reveal two shining medals, attached to blue ribbons topped with silver stars, adorned with the national seal of Creamland. She took one and stepped forward, pinning it to Chaud's vest, whose demeanor gave every indication that this was just business as usual.

"This medal represents the highest honor this country can bestow: the Blue Star of Creamland." She stepped over toward a more energized Lan, pinning one to his vest as well. "This honor is given to those who risk their lives for the sake of protecting our country from outside threats, just as you have. Creamland will never forget your bravery, and neither will I."

She stood back, taking a good look at the two Netbattlers in front of her, beaming. "I personally thank the both of you, from the bottom of my heart. Remember that Creamland's doors are always open to you." She gave a formal curtsy to both of them, as Lan and Chaud bowed back respectfully.

* * *

"The Blue Star of Creamland... that's just phenomenal, Lan. I've never even seen one, though I've always dreamed of receiving an honor like that..."

Lan grinned, sitting in the lobby of Creamland Castle some time later, talking to his father on his PET. "Well, this one's mine, you can't have it."

Around him, government workers walked about with Electopian Officials, still sorting out the mess that had been caused. The other tournament Netbattlers were also standing around, awaiting transportation to the airport. All of them were rather eager to get themselves home, after the ordeals and humiliation they had suffered; most of them had always dreamed of saving the day with their Netbattle skills, and were heavily chastened by the knowledge that someone else had taken the role of hero while they languished in captivity.

Yuichiro smirked. "I wouldn't think of it. At least I'll get to see it for myself when you come home."

"I thought you'd be coming here, after all that's happened," Lan responded. "But you're still there?"

His father nodded. "I was going to head over there with the other Officials, but by the time we could even get a flight scheduled, you and Chaud had already taken care of everything. I thought about going anyway, but in the end I didn't think I'd be of much help. Plus, SciLab is kind of a mess right now."

"Yeah, that's what Chaud said," Lan replied. "Officials everywhere, and the SciLab OS was deleted too, I heard."

"It was. Backups, too, so we can't just restore it. Honestly, it's kind of a blessing in disguise. The old one was nearly twenty years old. It was slow and complicated and everyone hated it."

Lan let out a laugh. "Well, now you can make a better one."

"Don't worry, we will," his father answered, eagerness in his voice. "We've already got a preliminary system up and running. It's not ready to run any jobs, but it's already a lot more promising than the old one."

"Really? Already?" Lan raised an eyebrow. "That was fast."

"The Officials who were looking at the Creamland Mother Computer found some extra data left behind, and sent it over for us to look at," Yuichiro explained. "We analyzed it, and found that it was extremely efficient in processing large amounts of data, so we used it as the basis of our new OS. Want to take a look?"

Lan blinked, confused. "A... look? At an OS?" He watched as his father walked over to a nearby screen and powered it on; once it finished humming to life, a familiar sight greeted Lan and Megaman's eyes.

"Iris!" they exclaimed at once, as her face smiled back at the both of them, excited.

"There wasn't enough data left to reconstruct her frame, but she doesn't seem too fussed about it," Yuichiro continued. "She tells us that this is what Nebula was using her for, more or less, but she seems happy doing the same for us. It'll definitely be strange working on a system that wants to design its own interface, but it'll probably be better in the long..." He cut himself off, realizing he was rambling. "Anyway, she'll be staying here for quite a while, to say the least."

Lan grinned. "We'll have to pay her a visit when we get home, huh, Megaman?"

Megaman grinned and nodded. "You bet! We need to thank her for stopping Colonel."

"I'm sure she's looking forward to it. Your mother and I can't wait to see you, either. She's probably going to be doting on you night and day until you've recovered."

Lan nodded. "Our flight leaves in about three hours. We should be there really late tonight."

"We'll see you then. Have a safe flight." He ended the call and looked up, watching as the other Netbattlers started walking out the door, toward the airport shuttle that had just arrived. He stood up slowly, grabbing his roller suitcase and starting to follow the others.

"Lan, wait." Lan turned around, surprised, to see Princess Pride walking in his direction.

"Princess? What is it?"

She walked up rather close to Lan and leaned in, her voice a bit hushed. "If I may... could I ask you to hold off on departing, for now?"

"Huh?" Lan wondered. "How come?"

"There is one more favor I would like to ask of you... if I could just speak to you in private..." The princess backed away and moved toward a door leading to the restricted area of the castle, smiling and beckoning for him to follow. Lan nodded, partly curious and partly nervous, as he followed her back to where no one else could see.


End file.
